By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 27, 2022 – Aisha Bowe has done it again. The Bahamian-American aerospace engineer revealed on her Facebook page on Thursday, October 27, 2022, that she’s “going to space!”
“As the first Black woman confirmed to fly with @blueorigin on #NewShepard, I am expected to be the sixth Black woman to cross the Kármán line – the internationally recognized boundary of space!” Bowe posted. “This mission comes 30 years after former @nasa astronaut Mae Jemison became the first Black woman to travel to space in 1992. Since then, there are only four other Black women who carry that distinction: NASA astronauts Stephanie Wilson, Joan Higginbotham, Jessica Watkins and Dr. Sian Proctor of the SpaceX Inspiration4 Mission.”
Bowe added: “I am honored to follow in the footsteps of these incredible woman. I can’t wait to fly on a future flight of @blueorigin’s #NewShepard.”
This was confirmed in a CISION PRWEB article published on October 27, which also noted that Aisha is the “first Black woman confirmed to travel on a commercial flight to space with Blue Origin, the private spaceflight company founded by Jeff Bezos. New Shepard is a reusable suborbital rocket system named after astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space.”
“Today’s historic announcement about my flight is both surreal and emotional,” Aisha was quoted as saying. “I’m thrilled, I’m excited, and I know that this experience will change my life forever.”
“I’ve dedicated my life to helping people break stereotypes,” she added. “I am honored to follow in the footsteps of these pioneers as we begin to realize the potential of public access to space.”
Aisha grew up in the United States. Her father immigrated from The Bahamas and was a taxi driver in Ann Arbor, Michigan. When Aisha’s high school guidance counselor recommended that she become a cosmetologist, her “father urged her to take a mathematics class at her local community college, which she quickly aced,” according to Wikipedia. “This foundation in mathematics then allowed Bowe to transfer into engineering programs at the University of Michigan from Washtenaw Community College.”
Bowe completed her undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering in 2008, and a master’s degree in space systems engineering in 2009, both at the University of Michigan.
Aisha is founder and CEO of STEMBoard, a company that solves technology challenges for government and private-sector clients. STEMBoard is a Certified Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business supported by the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce, and over the years it has worked to close the educational achievement gap of minority ethnic groups, through STEM camps, partnerships with historically black colleges and universities and career opportunities for young people.
Aisha is also the creator of the “LINGO” coding kit, a hands-on project-based Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) tools kit that “bridges the gap between traditional academia and industry readiness programs by delivering accessible STEM tools to prepare learners for real-world opportunities,” according to information gleaned from the Internet.
Aisha’s Bahamian roots were highlighted when she kicked off the Bahamas Embassy’s “YOUNG BAHAMIANS CONVERSATION SERIES” with an impressive presentation on her area of expertise in the board room of the Bahamas Embassy, 2220 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C., on Friday, June 12, 2015.
The event, held under the patronage of His Excellency Dr. Eugene Newry, the then Bahamas Ambassador to the United States, was a new Embassy-sponsored initiative aimed at providing a forum for young Bahamians in the diaspora “to present and dialogue on their research or work and cultivate ideas for the betterment of The Bahamas.”
This was during my first tenure at the Embassy as Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager for four-plus years, and I was immensely impressed by Aisha’s powerful address. The topic of her presentation was ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATON THROUGH TECHNOLOGY INFUSON: THE POWER OF STEM EDUCATION. At the time she was working in Silicon Valley, home to the world’s largest high-tech corporations, as well as thousands of start-up companies, and Aisha unquestionably left no doubt that she is proud to be a Bahamian with this opening statement:
“My home for the past seven years is a place brimming with innovation, growth and excitement, but in my opinion it has absolutely nothing on the natural beauty and possibility that lies within New Providence, Grand Bahama and the wider Family Islands.”
The then Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald quickly recognized the potential value of utilizing this renowned Bahamian-American aerospace engineer in the educational system of The Bahamas and reached a contractual agreement with her to conduct STEMBoard seminars on an ongoing basis.
The onset of COVID-19 and reduced interest in innovative programs such as this by the former Free National Movement (FNM) government considerably reduced the valuable contributions that Aisha Bowe was making technologically in the educational development of young Bahamian minds. In my view, with all deliberate speed, the Hon. Glenys Hanna-Martin, current Minister of Education, Technical and Vocational Training, should reengage the expertise of the “first Black woman confirmed to travel on a commercial flight to space with Blue Origin” on a regular basis.
