Karsen Kitchen made history Thursday as the youngest woman ever to travel into space – an honor she hopes will inspire others.
The Blue Origin flight, New Shepard (NS)-26, lifted off Thursday morning from Launch Site One in west Texas.
Other WRAL Top Stories
Kitchen, 21, said the experience has been life-changing.
“To see our beautiful planet truly just changes your perspective on how lucky we are to be alive,” she said. “If everyone had the chance to see that, the world would be a better place.”
Kitchen said she feels incredibly grateful to be the youngest woman to go to space.
“There have been 110 billion people that have ever lived, and only about 600 of them have gone to space – and less than 100 of them have been women," she said. “I just feel really grateful and really luck to … pay this forward because that’s really what I’m here to do.
“I hope that my story will continue to inspire people.”
Countdown commencing
After dreaming of this moment sine she was a young girl, the moment had finally arrived.
Kitchen and her five other crew mates strapped in – and it was time to go to space.
“You’re just sitting in there reflecting about how incredible this experience is going to be,” she said.
She described the moments leading up to the launch.
“You’re all the way back, and you are holding the rails. And you can’t move at all,” Kitchen said.
Then it was time to take off.
“The rocket starts to kind of roar like a dragon,” she said. “You can hear the heartbeat of the rocket. You feel every single thing on that flight.”
Kitchen said once the rocket shot up, all she could see was fire.
“The sheer force of that rocket going 2,200 miles an hour took my breath away,” she said. “I don’t know really what I was expecting. But when we started shooting up just in a straight line, completely parallel, I was like ‘oh wow, that’s the real deal.’
“This is the most intense roller coaster that you’ve ever been on.”
Kitchen said it was incredible going through the clouds.
“You see the earth assume this round shape, and the sky starts to get darker and darker and darker and darker,” she said.
Kitchen said, at that point, the capsule separated from the booster. And it was finally the moment she'd been waiting for: She was in space.
“Your body just plummets toward the ceiling,” she said. “Thank God you have those straps on. Because, if not, you would just hit the ceiling at full force.”
Once the crew was up in space, Kitchen was able to look out from the rocket.
“Good lord, that is quite the view,” she said. “Everything just goes so quiet, it’s like time stops.”
She said looking at the earth’s light from thousands of miles away was life-changing.
“Once you get to see it, your entire life changes,” Kitchen said. “It’s this incredible bright, fluorescent, blue beating heart of an earth. And it has this aura to it: This bubble, this wisp of an atmosphere that takes care of you and gives you everything you need.”
Kitchen said the free fall back to earth was intense.
“There’s no moving,” she said. “There’s no moving at all.”
As they were coming down, she said the rocket was moving so fast that it didn’t seem like it would stop in time before hitting the ground.
“Thankfully, we landed safely,” she said.
She said the entire experience was very emotional for her.
“I thought to myself, ‘I shouldn’t have worn mascara,’” Kitchen joked. “I was just sobbing the entire time.”
Following in her father's footsteps
The step into the great unknown runs in the family. Her father, UNC professor Jim Kitchen, went to space with Blue Origin in 2022.
But she said he’s not the only reason she loves space.
“Although I knew that my dad had an interest in space, I never knew the full extent of it,” she said. “It was kind of just something I got into myself. I cultivated my interest on my own.”
She does have her dad to thank, though, for helping connect her with the right people.
While visiting her dad ahead of his own launch in 2022, Kitchen said she had the opportunity to speak with her father’s colleagues about her passion for space exploration.
“So I kept in touch with them,” she said. “Perseverance really pays off.”
She said she continued to let them know how much she wanted a job at their company.
After two years of perseverance, Kitchen made history as the youngest woman ever to travel into space.
“I don’t think there’s anyone more deserving,” she said. “It’s all I want to do with my life.”
Karsen is majoring in communications and astronomy at UNC. She is pursuing a career in the space industry.
In 2024, Kitchen founded Orbitelle, an initiative that encourages women to pursue careers in the space industry.
Kitchen said it’s important to always follow your passion. She’s already made history, but that’s just the start of her journey. Kitchen said her ultimate goal is to work for NASA.
“Once I work for NASA, I can die happy,” she joked.