Emily Calandrelli has immortalized herself in the history books, and more than just being an Emmy-nominated MIT graduate, she's the 100th woman ever to fly to space.
Following in the footsteps of Valentina Tereshkova back in 1963, Calandrelli is proudly exploring the stars where relatively few women have gone before.
There's been a lot of talk about women in space recently, with Christina Koch set to be the first woman assigned to a lunar mission in 2025 and Kellie Gerardi leading an all-female research crew with Virgin Galactic in 2026.
Sadly, while there are many pioneering women in the space industry, Calandrelli found out the hard way that there are still plenty of negative attitudes toward them.
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The former host of Netflix's Emily's Wonder Lab and YouTuber known as 'Space Gal' went viral when footage of her from Blue Origin's NS-28 mission was shared online. With Calandrelli floating above Earth, she struggled to hold back her emotions, saying: "OMG that's space...I'm here, I did it."
Unfortunately, the comments on Blue Origin's original post and the wider discussion on X quickly turned into a toxic quagmire of sexism. As well as those mocking the idea of female astronauts in general, others objectified Calandrelli.
Calandrelli explained what the big moment was like: "I didn’t expect to see so much space, and I kept saying that’s our planet! That’s our planet! It was the same feeling I got when my kids were born, and I was like, ‘That’s my baby!’"
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Speaking to CNN in the aftermath, she added: "This is the best thing that I have ever experienced, second to watching my kids be born, and I think the beauty of sending more women into space is that we get to describe it in a way that moms can understand, that women can understand because I've never heard anyone describe space like that."
Referring to it as 'the most life-altering spectacular joy and awe,' she has a message for the haters via a charged Instagram post: "I refuse to give much time to the small men on the internet. I feel experiences in my soul.
"I will not apologize or feel weird about my reaction. It’s wholly mine and I love it."
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CNN says a representative for Calandrelli reiterates she'd prefer to focus on the 'inspiration her journey has given others' rather than online comments made by 'misguided' trolls.
As for what it feels like being the 100th woman in space, a clearly proud Calandrelli told the outlet: "I find it to be such an incredible honor to be a bookend on this milestone for women that was hard-fought and hard-won by all of the women that came before me.
"But I also see my mission of going into space beginning right now. The work begins now because now I want to bring this view, this experience, this joy and awe to all of those girls that you mentioned, all of those kids who watched Emily's Wonder Lab, so they can have that inspiration and want to reach for their big dreams too."