Michigan's Washtenaw Community College celebrated two of its alumnae, Aisha Bowe and Nathan Perry, who were key figures in the historic all-female Blue Origin space flight, according to reports by CBS News Detroit, Bowe, an astronaut and NASA rocket scientist and Perry, a launch vehicle test engineer at Blue Origin, both started their higher education journey at WCC before transferring to the University of Michigan.
The Blue Origin flight, dubbed NS-31, launched yesterday with great excitement as more than 50 supporters, students from local high schools, and various officials gathered at WCC to watch the lift-off on a large video screen. During this event, the significance of representation and female empowerment were particularly highlighted by attendees such as Crystal Lyte, a county commissioner who watched with her daughter and who, according to The Detroit News, expressed her joy in showing her child a "brown woman like her" achieving greatness in a field once dominated by men. Despite the launch carrying Bowe and Perry into the annals of spaceflight history, the event was punctuated by a strong sense of community and accomplishment for those who had played a part in their education at the community college level.
During the post-launch festivities, Washtenaw Community College President Dr. Rose Bellanca voiced her pride, with The Detroit News reporting that she felt a sense of triumph akin to that of commencement ceremonies; indeed, such achievements resonate with the values of education and possibility inherent to the institution she oversees.
