Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin was forced to delete a clip of astronaut Emily Calandrelli’s candid reaction to being in space after the post was overwhelmed with misogynistic comments by internet trolls. 37-year-old Calandrelli is a TV science program host and aerospace engineer who became the 100th woman in space.
The short video of Calandrelli aboard one of the company’s ships showed her floating upside down in zero gravity. She looked out at Earth from a window. Overwhelmed with emotions, Calandrelli said in the clip, “That’s our planet. Oh my God, this is space.”
However, the post was soon attacked by hateful netizens who wrote offensive comments targeting Calandrelli, including about her looks, the Daily Mail reported. “It’s not an achievement being a woman,” one user wrote. “Would you consider yourself the hottest woman to ever go to space? Any other contenders?” one man wrote, while another person said, “why she moaning I cannot unhear it.”
‘Instead of being on cloud nine, I’m crying in my seat staring out the window’
In an Instagram post, Calandrelli later said that instead of feeling good about her achievement, she was left in tears. “This all happened as I was flying home after experiencing the most perfect, wonderful dream-achieving experience of my life. And instead of being on cloud nine, I’m crying in my seat staring out the window. Because of course this happened. Of course I should have expected this,” she wrote.
Calandrelli continued, “I spent the flight texting my space sisters for advice. To share anger and sadness and to receive validation that I have nothing to be embarrassed of. I had to take a moment to feminism myself if I’m being quite honest. But I refuse to give much time to the small men on the internet. I feel experiences in my soul. It’s a trait I got from my father. We feel every emotion deeply and what a beautiful way that is to experience life. This joy is tattooed on my heart.”
She added, “I will not apologize or feel weird about my reaction. It’s wholly mine and I love it. When I can, I’ll reshare it myself with all of you. As I left the flight, the Southwest stewardess who recognized me, and I suspect could see that I had been crying, whispered as I walked off the plane “don’t let them dull your shine.” And I felt an immediate sense of camaraderie with her, with all women. I love you all.”
Calandrelli is a New York Times bestselling author and Emmy-nominated TV host, who, along with five other “space tourists,” blasted off from Blue Origin’s Texas spaceport on Friday, November 22, for the ninth manned test of the company’s New Shepard spacecraft. Blue Origin revealed that the capsule reached a peak altitude of 66 kilometers (41 miles) above sea level.
