Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company Blue Origin was forced to remove a video of a female astronaut after she was hit by a wave of sexual and misogynistic comments.
The clip included footage of Emily Calandrelli, also known as ‘Space Gal’, hanging upside down in the weightlessness of the capsule, while looking out the window and saying, ‘Oh my God, this is space.’
Thousands of Internet trolls took advantage of the moment to ruin her experience by ‘sexualizing’ the amateur astronaut.
One X user commented: “It’s not an achievement to be a woman.”
Another man asked: ‘Would you consider yourself the sexiest woman to ever go to space?’ Any other contenders?
The messages were so scathing that they made Calandrelli cry as she flew home from the mission, she said in an Instagram post on Sunday.
Blue Origin removed its original video and replaced it with an edited one, Calandrelli said, but has since reposted it to respond to those trying to ruin their special moment.
Her participation in this mission was historic: she was the 100th woman to venture into space.
Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company, Blue Origin, has been forced to remove a video of space tourist Emily Calandrelli’s reaction to seeing space for the first time.
The video shows Calandrelli looking out the window of the New Shepherd capsule while exclaiming, ‘Oh my God, this is space!’
Calandrelli is an MIT aerospace engineer, science communicator and television host known as ‘Space Gal’ who has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
She and five other space tourists embarked on the ninth human test flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepherd spacecraft.
The six “space tourists” paid for their seats on the rocket, although the price per ticket remains undisclosed.
The rocket launched from the company’s spaceport outside Van Horn, Texas, on Friday. Blue Origin filmed the mission and captured powerful images of amateur astronauts’ reactions as they viewed Earth from a vantage point in space.
Online trolls, mostly men, became obsessed with Calandrelli’s reaction.
One Threads user commented: “Why is she moaning, I can’t stop listening to it.”
“This all happened while I was flying home after experiencing the most perfect and wonderful dream-fulfillment experience of my life,” Calandrelli wrote on Instagram.
“And instead of being in the clouds, I’m crying in my seat looking out the window.”
Calandrelli was chosen along with five other space tourists to embark on the ninth human test flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepherd spacecraft.
She went on to say that she spent the flight texting her “space sisters” for advice, “to share anger and sadness and receive confirmation that I have nothing to be ashamed of.”
‘I refuse to spend much time on the little men of the Internet. I feel experiences in my soul,’ he added.
‘I won’t apologize or feel weird about my reaction. It’s totally mine and I love it.’
As she exited the flight, a flight attendant recognized her and noted that she had been crying, whispering “don’t let them dull your glow” as she got off the plane, Calandrelli wrote.
“I felt an immediate sense of camaraderie with her, with all the women.”
Although Blue Origin chose to remove the video, Calandrelli I reposted it on X this morning.
“Seeing our planet for the first time is a dream decades in the making,” he wrote.
‘You’re seeing so many emotions intertwined. Excitement, amazement and pride… but, to be honest, also a bit of fear and confusion.’
It’s clear that the experience was deeply moving for Calandrelli, who compared it to giving birth to her children upon landing at the Blue Origin launch site in West Texas.
“It was the same feeling I had when my children were born and when I saw him for the first time,” she said.
The rocket launched from the company’s spaceport outside Van Horn, Texas, on Friday.
The New Shepherd capsule carried the six-person crew just above the boundary between the atmosphere and outer space for several minutes before returning to Earth.
Hundreds of social media users also shared messages of support for Calandrelli, praising her as an inspiration.
‘I see your joy! Well earned, very exciting and very inspiring to women and girls around the world,” one person commented on her post.
Several women commented on her post saying they watched the launch live with their daughters.
Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to go to space, launching on a solo mission in 1963. After that historic mission, it took another 20 years for a woman to leave Earth again.
The first American woman in space was NASA astronaut Sally Ride, who launched with four other astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger on mission STS-7 in 1983.
The gender imbalance in American spaceflight remains stark. Since its inception in 1958, NASA has selected 360 astronaut candidates: 299 men and only 61 women, according to the agency. fact sheet updated November 12.
While Calandrelli is not an official NASA astronaut, her historic trip to space serves as a reminder of what women are capable of doing.
‘I am very happy about this. “You are a great inspiration to future generations, especially girls in STEM,” one person commented on her X post.
Blue Origin did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.