- Aisha Bowe, a rocket scientist and entrepreneur who graduated from Washtenaw Community College and University of Michigan, went to space on Monday morning.
- The space voyage on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Rocket had the first all-women crew since 1963.
Rocket scientist and entrepreneur Aisha Bowe, a Washtenaw Community College and University of Michigan alumna, was among the six women in space on Monday morning as a part of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin‘s latest space mission.
The crew was the first all female flight team in space since the Soviet Union’s Valentina Tereshkova’s solo venture in 1963.
Bowe, an Ann Arbor native, is the first female U-M alumna and sixth Black woman to make this journey to space, according to a news release from U-M.
“This mission is about redefining what’s possible and showing young people, especially girls, that they belong in every field,” Bowe said in a news release on WCC’s website.
Bowe attended Washtenaw Community College from 2003 to 2005. She then transferred to the University of Michigan to earn her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Space Systems Engineering.
She worked at NASA then launched a tech entrepreneur career as the founder and CEO of STEMBoard engineering firm, and creator of LINGO, a coding kit for students to learn STEM skills.
Bowe endowed an engineering scholarship to WCC for students planning to transfer to four-year institutions to pursue engineering. She said WCC changed her life.
“I graduated high school feeling lost and uncertain about my future, but at WCC, the small class sizes, dedicated professors and accessible, hands-on learning environment gave me the courage to take control of my own path,” Bowe said. “I built the confidence and skills that set me on a trajectory from community college to NASA rocket scientist, entrepreneur, and soon, Blue Origin astronaut. Your past doesn’t define your future. You do.”
The rest of the crew included singer Katy Perry, television personality Gayle King, journalist Lauren Sánchez,
bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
USA TODAY contributed to this report.
