On a typical Thursday morning, UNC senior Karsen Kitchen might find herself doing typical college things. But three Thursdays ago, she found herself in outer space. And not only did Kitchen go to outer space, she made history as the youngest woman to ever cross the Kármán line on a flight that lasted just over ten minutes. (For those brushing up on their interstellar vocabulary, that’s the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space.)
This past summer, Kitchen interned with Blue Origin, the Jeff Bezos–founded company focused on innovative spacecraft technology and manufacturing. The organization has successfully taken eight groups of astronauts to space on the New Shepard rocket, among them Kitchen’s father, a UNC professor, and now Kitchen herself.
With boots back on the ground, she shares her story of becoming a collegiate astronaut.
Let’s start with the fact that you are now the youngest woman ever to cross the Kármán line. When you first learned you would achieve that milestone, what went through your mind?
That actually didn’t register for me until a couple months ago. I was sitting at work one day and the thought just popped into my brain that I was going to be the youngest woman, and I had to sit up. You know when you’re going to bed at night and you remember something embarrassing, you have to sit up in bed and your eyes shoot right open? That type of reaction, like, “Oh my god. Wait. Hold on.”
What was it like being in a rocket that’s moving toward space at 12 Gs of force?
It is a force that cannot be reckoned with. You feel every single jerk and drill of that rocket. You feel every tip and movement. I felt so ready, I was so excited, and I felt such a sense of gratitude. This is me making my dream come true, and this is really happening right now. It was the best, best feeling I’ve ever had. Processing all of these incredible emotions was making me audibly sob.
Speaking of emotions, are you able to put into words how it felt looking at Earth from the ship?
I looked out that window and my life just changed in a split second, and I unlocked a new version of myself. It changes everything in your life and it answers a lot of questions, but also leaves you with so many more questions. It’s just incredible to be able to see that beautiful, bright, fluorescent planet.
How incredible is it that I have the chance to breathe? That I’ve had the chance to live on this planet, that I’m a human and I can experience the full array of human emotion? I can experience the highs and lows in life, and I can see the beauty and fully appreciate everything my life has to offer, whether good or bad.
And so you learn to embrace everything. We are this blue marble floating through space, and we’re just little things. And we find joy in the smallest things. People come together to watch the sun go down every night and feel the wind rustle through our hair and see oceans and mountains. It’s just really beautiful.
There’s a photo of you with your Carolina Blue Jordans after your launch. Let’s talk about that style choice.
Those are actually my dad’s shoes! I told my crew member “I’m planning on wearing my Jordans to space. Yes or no?” and she said, “No, you have to wear something that’s completely fire retardant.” And she said Js are extremely flammable and they would not let me on the rocket if I was wearing them. I had this perfect image of coming out of this capsule and showing off my shoes and Carolina pride.
But I saw my dad after I landed, and I said “Give me your shoes! Give me your shoes!” So I found the top of a box for him to stand on while he was completely barefoot in the West Texas desert and I put his shoes on. I don’t know if anyone notices this, but those shoes in that picture are huge. It looks like I have size ten feet!
Did you bring any other sense of Carolina pride into space with you?
You best believe I took my Carolina pride all the way up there with me. I can proudly say before I got in my seat, I whispered one last time into the incredible void that is the space surrounding us, “Go Heels.” It’s floating out there forever. So Duke has nothing left on us!
Your dad has also gone to space on a Blue Origin flight. What is it like sharing such a unique experience with him?
It was really special because my father and I figured out on the way back from Texas that we are the only father-daughter duo alive that has been to space together.
My dad has told me something my entire life, and I didn’t fully digest it until I went to space. Our earth is 4.5 billion years old and human civilization has only existed for about 300,000 of those years. And he would look at me and say, “Out of all of the 110 billion people that have ever lived, me and you are existing in the same timeline. How lucky are we to be able to be alive at the same time?” And I thought that was a cool sentiment, but it didn’t really make sense. And then when I was in space, it kind of just kicked in.
And speaking of the incredible people you are alive with—what is your relationship like with your crew?
It’s a really interesting dynamic because we all come from different walks of life. It’s a group of people that have completely different experiences coming together to bond over one shared thing, which is our passion for space. What really bonded us was that we weren’t just going up into space together, we were working as a whole that really ensured the vital success of this mission.
If there’s a parent out there reading this to their little girl that wants to go to space, what would you tell her?
I think my advice would be to be your own best friend. You should rely on yourself and get to know yourself more, get to know what you want to do, and clearly define your dreams and your hopes. Most importantly, give it the good old college try because you’re never going to know if you can achieve something if you don’t even start. Every step forward is a step in the right direction. You might not know where you’re headed, but trust that every step you take is moving you towards a larger goal.
This interview has been edited for space and clarity.
