Aisha Bowe flaunts Bahamian flag in Space on Blue Origin’s All-Women mission

Bahamian Aisha Bowe proudly flaunted the national flag of the Bahamas during her first-ever visit to space aboard Blue Origin’s rocket. She was one of the six members of Blue Origin’s first all-female crew to visit space. 

The six-person crew also included US pop star Katy Perry, Jeff Bezos' fiancée Lauren Sanchez, CBS host Gayle King, scientist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn. According to Blue Origin, this marks the first all-female spaceflight since 1963. 

All the six-person female crew were seen floating weightless at the view of Earth and the moon for about four minutes when they entered the rocket. All the women held up personal items, as Katy Perry carried a daisy flower in honour of her four-year-old daughter Daisy. Aisha Bowe also carried the Bahamian flag. 

The flight which departed on Monday, lasted around 11 minutes and traveled more than 60 miles above Earth, passing the Kármán line, which is considered to be the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space.

Aisha Bowe becomes first Bahamian to travel to space

A former NASA scientist, Aisha Bowe became the first Bahamian and first Exumian to travel to space. Upon landing safely in Van Horn, West Texas, and exiting the capsule, former NASA rocket scientist shared her experience and said, “I will never be the same. When you get up there and you see the Earth, and it's so beautiful, and it just fills the screen, and it's not just your window, it's everybody's window. And there're no boundaries, there're no borders, there's just Earth. It's incredible.”

She further continued and said, “Dream it, plan it and go and do it. I never really thought I could go to space, although I really wanted to go. And today just confirms that dreams are real, and sometimes reality is wrong." 

Nation poured congratulatory messages 

The Prime Minister of Bahamas, Philip Davis congratulated Aisha Bowe on becoming the first Bahamian to travel to space. Expressing his happiness, PM Davis noted that he is filled with pride and emotion as Aisha Bowe made historic milestone. 

He shed light on Aisha’s journey and said that she has carried more than just her own dreams beyond Earth. He added that Bowe has carried the spirit of a people who have always believed in rising above challenges, reaching beyond limits, and standing tall on the world stage.

The Prime Minister called Aisha, a source of inspiration. He added that Bowe has lifted all of them. The Deputy Prime Minister of Bahamas, Chester Cooper also emphasised on Aisha Bowe’s journey and congratulated her. He shed light on Aisha’s journey and described it as a shining example of what vision, determination, and excellence can achieve. 

The netizens also expressed pride and poured congratulatory messages. As an individual wrote, “Congratulations Aisha! Be your own classy self and shake hands, give hugs and represent with pride. You deserve this; it’s a fantastic accomplishment and you studied well to achieve this. Brava! You go girl!!”