Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang and Amanda Nguyen (Photo: VOV)

Nguyen will fly to space on a New Shepard rocket of Blue Origin, an American aerospace manufacturer, defense contractor, and launch service provider, becoming the first woman of Vietnamese origin to fly in space.

Ambassador Giang congratulated Amanda Nguyen on being selected for the spaceflight, emphasizing that this event will affirm the ability and promote the image of Vietnamese women. He praised her efforts in advocating for women's rights and protecting victims of sexual assault. Ambassador Giang said Vietnamese women have always played an important role throughout Vietnam’s thousand-year history of national construction and defense, as well as in its current development.

The Vietnamese government has always placed great importance on promoting gender equality, creating favorable conditions for women to maximize their role and contribute to socio-economic development, and actively participating in the international community's joint gender equality efforts, he said.

Amanda Nguyen expressed pride in her Vietnamese origin and the honor of soon becoming the first Vietnamese-American woman to travel to space. She said she hopes her upcoming spaceflight will promote the image of Vietnamese women, connect the community, and advance cooperation to ensure gender equality and combat violence against and abuse of women.

Amanda Nguyen was born in 1991 in the US. In the summer of 2025 she will become the first Vietnamese-American woman to travel into space, as part of the Space for Humanity project. She has been an active advocate against discrimination and sexual assault in the US. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 and was named one of Time magazine's Women of the Year in 2022. She received the 24th Annual Heinz Award for Public Policy and the Nelson Mandela Changemaker Award, made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and was recognized by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the top 100 global thinkers.