Jeff Bezos‘ spaceflight company Blue Origin has been forced to take down a video of 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, as she gazed out the window and said ‘oh my God, this is space.’
Thousands of internet trolls seized the moment to ruin her experience by ‘sexualizing’ the amateur astronaut.
One X user commented: ‘It’s not an achievement being a woman.’
Another man asked: ‘Would you consider yourself the hottest woman to ever go to space? Any other contenders?’
The messages were so vitriolic that they brought Calandrelli to tears while flying home after the mission, she stated in an Instagram post made Sunday.
Blue Origin took down their original video and replaced it with an edited one, Calandrelli said, but she has since reposted it to hit back at those trying to ruin her special moment.
Her part in this mission was historic: she was the 100th woman to venture into space.
Calandrelli is an MIT aerospace engineer, science communicator and TV host known as ‘Space Gal’ who has amassed hundreds of thousands of social media followers.
She and five other space tourists embarked on the ninth human test flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepherd spacecraft.
All six of the ‘space tourists’ paid for their seat on the rocket, though the price per ticket remains undisclosed.
The rocket launched from the company’s spaceport outside of Van Horn, Texas on Friday. Blue Origin filmed the mission, capturing powerful footage of the amateur astronauts’ reactions to seeing Earth from vantage point of space.
Online trolls, mostly men, became fixated on Calandrelli’s reaction.
One Threads user commented: ‘why she moaning I cannot unhear it.’
‘This all happened as I was flying home after experiencing the most perfect, wonderful dream-achieving experience of my life,’ Calandrelli wrote on Instagram.
‘And instead of being on cloud nine, I’m crying in my seat staring out the window.’
She went on to say that she spent the flight texting her ‘space sisters’ for advice, ‘to share anger and sadness and to receive validation that I have nothing to be embarrassed of.’
‘I refuse to give much time to the small men on the internet. I feel experiences in my soul,’ she added.
‘I will not apologize or feel weird about my reaction. It’s wholly mine and I love it.’
As she left the flight, a stewardess recognized her and noticed that she had been crying, whispering ‘don’t let them dull your shine’ as she walked off the plane, Calandrelli wrote.
‘I felt an immediate sense of camaraderie with her, with all women.’
Though Blue Origin opted to take the video down, Calandrelli reposted it on X this morning.
‘Seeing our planet for the first time, a dream decades in the making,’ she wrote.
‘You’re seeing so many emotions intertwined. Excitement, awe, and pride – but to be honest a little fear and confusion too.’
It’s clear that the experience was deeply moving for Calandrelli, who likened it to giving birth to her children upon landing at Blue Origin’s launch site in West Texas.
‘It was the same feeling I got when my kids were born where I’m like, seeing it for the first time,’ she said.
Hundreds of social media users also shared messages of support for Calandrelli, praising her as an inspiration.
‘I see your joy! Well earned, so exciting and so inspirational for women and girls everywhere,’ one person commented on her post.
Several women commented on her post saying that they watched the launch live stream 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 US spaceflight remains stark. Since its inception in 1958, NASA has selected 360 astronaut candidates: 299 men and only 61 women, according to agency fact sheet updated on 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.
‘I am so happy about this. You are so an inspiration for future generations, specially girls in STEM,’ one person commented on her X post.
Blue Origin did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
