Emily Calandrelli, a trailblazing astronaut and MIT engineer, became the 100th woman to travel to space when she joined a group of six space tourists on a launch organized by Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos. However, her historic journey into space, a moment of awe and inspiration, was overshadowed by a wave of sexist online comments.
In a video shared on social media, Calandrelli described her emotional reaction to witnessing Earth from space, saying, “We got to weightlessness, I immediately turned upside down and looked at the planet and then there was so much blackness. There was so much space.” She compared the profound experience to the moment she saw her children being born: “That’s our planet! That’s our planet! It was the same feeling I got when my kids were born, and I was like, ‘That’s my baby!’”
Despite the awe-inspiring nature of her words, the video quickly attracted a flood of objectifying and sexualized comments. Many of the reactions targeted her as a woman in the field of space exploration, reducing her accomplishment to inappropriate remarks. Calandrelli, who is also known for hosting the Netflix show Emily’s Wonder Lab and for her online persona as “Space Gal,” expressed her disappointment and frustration over the comments.
In response, Blue Origin removed the original video from its social media accounts. Calandrelli, however, was undeterred by the negativity and took to Instagram to assert her stance. “I will not apologize or feel weird about my reaction,” she wrote. “It’s wholly mine and I love it.”
She further explained that her emotional connection to the experience is something deeply ingrained in her, a trait she inherited from her father. “I feel experiences in my soul. We feel every emotion deeply, and what a beautiful way that is to experience life,” she said. “This joy is tattooed on my heart.”
In an interview with CNN, Calandrelli reflected on the significance of having more women in space, emphasizing that their perspectives bring unique value. “The beauty of sending more women into space is that they get to describe it in a way that moms can understand, that women can understand.”
The reaction to Calandrelli’s video highlights a broader issue women face in male-dominated fields, where accomplishments are sometimes undermined or overshadowed by gender-based discrimination. The space industry, historically dominated by men, has seen an increase in female representation, but challenges like online harassment continue to persist.
Blue Origin did not provide a comment on the incident.