The Space Conundrum & Blue Origin NS-31 the All-Female Flight to the Edge of Space

6 Women took flight on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket to the edge of space and a powder keg of hype and celebrity blew up the internet. Something about this all-female mission triggered people from all sides, with many jumping on the trend or not even realizing this billionare space race has been underway for a while (or even what the Karman line is).

This episode lays out some basic facts about the mission and dedicates coverage of the two women with (IMO) the most powerful stories of the NS-31 crew, Aisha Bowe and Amanda Nguyen. These are chaotic times, with people chasing the algorithm - but that doesn't mean we can't share the powerful stories underneath the hype & celebrity of it all. The Space Conundrum is in full effect! So let's dig in to try and understand WHY and hear Aisha & Amanda's stories in their own voices.

Thanks for joining us

Timestamps:

00:00 Blue Origin NS-31 Backlash & Our Focus
02:17 Breakdown of Blue Origin NS-31 Mission
03:37 Hype & Celebrity with Space Tourism
05:44 The Space Conundrum, Critiques, & Societal Impact of NS-31
08:05 The two crew members of NS-31 we think you SHOULD know
09:32 Aisha Bowe's story told by her
12:36 Amanda Nguyen's story told by her
15:05 Closing thoughts

Here's to building a fantastic future - and continued progress in Space (and humanity)!  Spread Love, Spread Science

Alex G. Orphanos

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You welcome to Today In Space. Iam, as always, your space

(00:03):
science podcast host from theEast Coast, Alex G orfanos, and
we're talking about the BlueOrigin NS 31 mission, the all
female mission to the edge ofspace and back. What we're going
to do is this episode will besomething to help you understand
what is going on with all ofthis hype that's happening, but
also what it is maybe this isthe first time you've ever heard

(00:27):
of I can't tell you how manypeople this past week, this was
the first time they heard aboutBlue Origin, the first time they
heard that people could just buya flight up to space like this,
and normies going to space. Sothere's a whole group of people
that just had no idea that thiswas even happening, and that's
totally okay, and that's whatthis episode is for. We're going

(00:48):
to talk about the details of it,and then you're going to learn
about the two people on themission that you haven't heard
about, not the celebrities thathave been discussed ad nauseum,
but the two women on board thatI think have the most powerful
stories that should be told. Sobefore we jump in, I just want
to say thanks for joining us.And if you haven't already go,

(01:09):
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(01:30):
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more. And of course, you cancheck out this episode's

(01:50):
description. We've got someawesome space merch now this 3d
printed in our labs. You can gocheck that out, easy
printing.etsy.com, but that's itfor the business side. Let's
dive into this episode. Thanksfor joining us. So NS 31 this
Blue Origin all female flight.There are lots of people
weighing in on the mission, andmany are just finally catching

(02:14):
up to this billionaire spacerace that's been going on, even
though us and this podcastincluded, have been following it
for a decade or more. Let'stouch on a few quick facts to
set the record straight on someof the more poorly researched
opinions out there. So first,the Blue Origin new Glenn flight
is a space tourism flight to theedge of space called the Carmen

(02:37):
line, and then they come back toEarth. And this is the 31st new
Glenn flight, so definitely nottheir first, and it's their 11th
human mission to the edge ofspace and back. So again, not
the first time they've done it,even though the news makes it
seem like they just all of asudden started going to space,
and new Glenn launches from WestTexas and releases the capsule

(02:58):
at the top of its flight inorder to provide roughly four
minutes of zero gravity at theheight of the trajectory, or
apogee. Then the booster andcapsule return to the ground.
The booster reigniting its befour engine to slow the rocket
down enough for the landing legsto deploy for a soft touchdown.
Then the capsule uses droguechutes and the main parachutes

(03:20):
to slow down the capsule for asoft touchdown, where they
actually get to use the blanketof air that's underneath the
capsule that squishes out sothat you can get a soft
touchdown, and that helps bringthe crew safety back to Earth.
The capsule and rocket flythemselves. The crew is just
along for the ride. They get tounbuckle when they're in zero G,

(03:40):
enjoying that time above theCarmen line, and then they
buckle in and would come backfor the return. We've seen many
celebrities enjoy these flightson New Shepard, including
William Shatner, Jeff Bezos,himself, aerospace engineer and
stem influencer, Emilycalandrelli, and aviation
pioneer Wally funk, who, in the1960s was denied going to space

(04:04):
by NASA as only men with theright stuff were chosen back
then. And for the record, if youspend any amount of time
listening to Wally funk speakand look at her credentials,
it's clear to us she should havebeen a NASA astronaut a long
time ago. So these missions tothe edge of space have also not
just done for celebrity, butbecause Jeff Bezos is a major

(04:26):
space nerd, there were a lot offirst people and things in the
space industry that were like,Wally funk going to space that
are kind of beautiful in in thespace world. And it's great that
they were able to do that, butit is space tourism. It's not
orbital space, which is a lotharder and requires you go a lot

(04:47):
faster, and the return flightwould also be not as simple as
new Glenn makes it. But that'sokay. It's still good that we
have it, at least in ouropinion. Finally, we have this
theory here on the podcastcalled. Called the Space
conundrum that asks whyincreased space progress seems
to come with increased societalchaos. The last space race had

(05:10):
tremendous space progress,leading to the first human
stepping foot on the moon, andthis was combined with a
societal, economic, politicaland racial chaos on tilt in the
world in the 1950s 60s and 70s,we use the space conundrum to
temper our expectations ofwhat's to come now that we have

(05:30):
been in a decade of spaceprogress so far, and society has
followed with its own brand ofchaos in the late 2010s and now
2020s the mission from BlueOrigin seems to be hitting all
of the classic why are we goingto space when things on Earth
are so bad tropes of the firstspace race? I think one of the

(05:53):
most impactful critiques of theBlue Origin mission here is, why
are people spending $400,000 perperson to fly to space when
people are losing their jobs andcosts for everything are
skyrocketing. And we frame themission around the celebrity of
it all and the media coverage ofit. Mission goes right into the

(06:14):
sites of the classic argumentfrom the first space race, and
we have 10 years of podcasts toexplain why we think space is an
adventure and a frontier weshould undergo as humanity. So
we're not going to spend ourtime giving that answer here,
but we would love to hear yoursemail us or comment on this
podcast episode and let us knowwhy you think space travel is

(06:37):
important, or if you have asolid argument on why we
shouldn't. We'd like to hearfrom you as well, and even if
it's just your feeling on thecoverage of this mission or what
you thought about this specificmission, let us know and be
respectful. Now this Blue Originmission is a hype mission, and
they have often used celebrityto get awareness for what they

(07:00):
are doing and offering tocitizens with the money and
means to buy a seat for a flightlike this. NS 31 was that powder
keg of hype for the spaceindustry, and it got everyone
talking in that way, it's a netgood for space, because it's in
the conversation, and I agreethat the good outweighs the bad
for you know, this news cycle,the discussion is happening, but

(07:26):
I've learned more about thebalance of hype and it's, it's a
true double edged sword, and notjust the exciting awesomeness
that people crave for, you know,with hype, you get plenty of
attention, but that's both goodand bad. Hype is great, but that
metaphorical hype horse canreally kick you in the face. And

(07:48):
unfortunately, a lot of thismissing coverage has circled
around the criticism for the allwomen crew. It's mostly been
focused on the celebrity of itall, and not the deeper stories
that are really there,especially if you're a Space Fan
and you've seen this missioncoming for a while, there's some
real powerful stories here.That's not Katy Perry and Gayle

(08:10):
King. Now I want to focus on twomembers of the crew that
virtually no other news story orsocial media poster is really
talking about. That's Aisha bowand Amanda win. To me, these two
women's stories are by far themost impactful and meaningful
and where the real coverageshould have been, but that's
hype, and Blue Origin uses hype.Now, instead of complaining

(08:35):
about the coverage that it didhave and the way that it's gone
and the shittiness of people. Ifigured I would instead dedicate
this episode to them, but toreally tell the story in the
best way possible, especiallygiven the hype around this, I
decided to compile their storiesin their own voices. So this is
content that they made and putout online leading up to the

(08:59):
mission. Both women did a greatjob of storytelling their own
journey. And while I do hope tohave the chance to interview
both of them, this was the bestnext thing we could do to really
get their stories across aseffectively as possible from a
woman's perspective,specifically their perspective.
And so I have invited bothAmanda and Aisha to come on the

(09:20):
podcast, and I hope they havethe time to do that. They have
an open invite anytime. Buttoday, let's listen to the
storytellers themselves, so thatwe can just get a better
appreciation of what this allwomen mission was really about
when you strip away all thecelebrity and hype. So first,
let's listen to Aisha Beau inher journey to NS 31 and the

(09:45):
first all female mission to theedge of space. I'm flying
to space. But this didn't startwith that rocket. They told me
to study cosmetology, but Ichose to reach for the stars.
They. Laughed when I started atcommunity college and called me
crazy for trying to major inaerospace. But I did. I

(10:08):
graduated, and I got hired atNASA, and yet they still asked
me if I was lost. I achieved atNASA. I grew at NASA, and I left
NASA to build my own company,and again, they said, Can't I
built two multi million dollarbusinesses, and suddenly they
knew I had it in me, after all,and now I'm flying to space with

(10:32):
the first all female Blue Origincrew. Because sometimes you
can't tell people your dreams.You have to show them. I know
what's in my flight bag. Aspecial children's book, run
rebel. Run. It's the story of agirl named rebel. She's bold,

(10:54):
fearless and full of heart. Shechases her dreams all the way to
the stars, no matter who tellsher it's impossible. This book
was written for Darby Jane, aremarkable little girl living
with epilepsy. She keeps movingforward with courage and joy
even when the road gets hard. SoI'm taking a page from her story

(11:15):
with me, a page from run. Rebelrun is going in my flight pack,
because this mission isn't justmine. It's for every rebel girl
and every rebel boy who's everdared to dream beyond their
limits. This is your reminder.The stars are yours too. Have to

(11:37):
face anything I can do it aftera bishop Jake's prayer. What
are you? What are you feelinginside? I'm excited,
I'm honored, I'm proud, I'm I'mgrateful, but we pray first.
Let's
pray. Can we pray in momentsthat we cannot manipulate or
manage, that we recognize thegreatness of God, the

(11:59):
consistency and the faithfulnessof God with the courage that is
unrecognizable, a faith thatthey cannot even enunciate, a
peace that passes allunderstanding and a wide open
eye to see the world as you seeit every day from a much, Much

(12:19):
higher plane, you have notchanged in your character, your
power or your ability. You'rethe same God, whether in heaven,
on all or on earth. Thy will bedone. Our hearts say, our fear
says, Amen. And
now let's listen to AmandaWynn's story and journey to NS

(12:42):
31 and the mission to the edgeof space and back, been
my dream to fly to space. Youknow, my family are boat
refugees from Vietnam. My momcrossed the ocean so I can touch
the sky and came on boats, andnow we're on spaceships. But
also, it's because I paused myastronaut dreams in order to
fight for justice. After mysexual assault, I traded in my

(13:03):
telescope to pen the sexualassault survivor Bill of Rights,
and after 10 years of fightingfor rights, I get to honor the
person that I was before I washurt and her dreams are to fly
to space. When astronauts boardthe capsule, right as we walk
into it, there's a bell thateach one of us rings, and it
comes from the tradition of howwell the entire aerospace

(13:28):
industry has its roots withinsailing. And when I ring that
bell, I already know it's goingto be such an emotional and
symbolic moment, because myfamily pretended to be sailors
fishermen in order to acquirethe boat escape, to learn to
navigate the stars, you know, tomap the way to freedom. Early

(13:51):
this year, you visited Vietnamand big oh my gosh, yeah, it was
I retraced my mother's refugeejourney. I went to her Island,
her refugee Island, I mean, inMalaysia, and I collected shells
from there that I'll be flyinginto space from that island. One
of the biggest things that I wasafraid of was that I am a child

(14:16):
of of war. You know, both splitbetween two heritages, one in
Vietnam and one being American.And as somebody who was born and
raised here, I didn't know howVietnam would accept me, but
there is always this, thisgenerosity towards just the
threads that bind the diaspora,no matter where we are. Just

(14:40):
this takes different forms. Youknow, when Neil Armstrong
stepped on the moon, bombsrained down on Vietnam. When my
family looked at the sky, theysaw death. But tomorrow, when
they look at the sky, they'llsee the first Vietnamese woman
in space. And to me, thatrepresents that you. So we can

(15:01):
achieve whatever it is, nomatter who we are or where we
come from. It is absolutelypossible, and also critically,
that dreams are important evenamidst tragedy.
And that does it, folks, thankyou for joining me for this
episode. This is a rather deepepisode, and we're getting into
this phase of the spaceconundrum, where things are

(15:23):
really ramping up for spaceprogress and society right now.
So these are very chaotic times,but there are some really
beautiful stories that, if youjust take away the veil of the
what's the most exciting hypething, or what's the train I can
jump on, because this is goingto get the algorithm, and I'm
going to get a video, if we takeall that away and start focusing

(15:45):
on some of the stories thatreally matter this, this felt
like it. So I hope you enjoyedthe episode. Thank you for
joining us. Make sure tosubscribe to us on YouTube or
Apple podcast if you want morespace content for all things
space. Looking forward to,hopefully one day, interviewing
both Aisha and Amanda on thepodcast so we can hear more
about their story and really getto ask some some deeper

(16:07):
questions, and just to hang outand chat for an hour would be
amazing. So looking forward tothat. If you guys want to make
that happen, start tagging themonline and saying you should
come on Today In Space, andwe'll, we'll use that hype train
to try and have some reallygreat conversations. Make sure
to follow us online at Today InSpace pod on Instagram, Today In

(16:30):
Space on tick tock, Today InSpace pod on x, as well as our
personal account, El, G, R, thenumber three CEO, we will be
going live for some spaceevents, for some launches, for
some landings, uh, whenever wecan do that. So make sure to
follow us there, because that'show you're going to find out on
YouTube at Today In Space, makesure to like, subscribe, share

(16:51):
with others, and above all, aswe traverse the chaos of this
world, as we're in the secondspace conundrum cycle, I don't
even think it's halfway throughyet, so I think there's still a
lot more to come, a lot ofbeautiful stories and space to
follow, including human spaceflight, but until then, stay
well, be well, and make sure tospread love and spread science.

(17:14):
Thanks for Joining us. See Ya.You.