Overview
- In a late‑December post, Nguyen says the volume of negative attention reached “billions of hostile impressions,” which she calls an onslaught no one is built to endure.
- She recounts being unable to leave her lodging in Texas for a week and later hanging up on a senior Blue Origin staffer because she could not speak through tears.
- Nguyen flew on Blue Origin’s NS‑31 with Katy Perry, Gayle King, Lauren Sánchez, Aisha Bowe and Kerianne Flynn, becoming the first Vietnamese woman to reach space.
- The mission drew sustained criticism over cost, environmental impact and the role of private spaceflight, and some online commenters promoted conspiracy claims about the flight.
- She also cites benefits from the trip, including heightened attention to her women’s‑health research, new diplomatic opportunities and symbolic outreach tied to Vietnam, and says the “fog of grief” is lifting eight months on.