Audrey Powers couldn't receive her Outstanding Aerospace Engineer (OAE) award in person in October 2021, but she had the perfect reason for canceling. Her career in aerospace led her to the role of vice president of mission and flight operations at Blue Origin, and during the OAE ceremony Powers (BSAAE '99) would be preparing for a trip to space.

Taking off aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft on October 13, Powers conducted vital work for the company’s engineering team through checkouts of human integration and emergency systems. Those contributions made Powers the latest Purdue graduate to enter the Cradle of Astronauts and the third commercial astronaut to earn that recognition. She also took a Purdue pennant on the trip.

"I'm very emotional about it. To think that my name would be spoken in the same sentence as these other astronauts who graduated from Purdue is just … I absolutely do not feel like I am their equivalent," Powers says. "I've worked in this industry my entire career. I'm not downplaying the contributions I've made or the hard work I've put in to help the commercial aspects of this industry get up and running. But it’s overwhelming to me that I would be compared to these people."

Read more about Powers and her flight in this feature story.