Gretchen Green ’96 MMS’98 MD’00 RES’01 boarded Blue Origin’s NS-32 spaceflight on May 31, 2025, the 12th mission carrying passengers as part of the New Shepard program, with the confidence that had carried her through each life milestone leading her to that point. Clad in metallic blue that reflected the sunlight from the skyline, she looked through the capsule’s windows down to Earth not only as a newly minted astronaut but also as an entrepreneur, historian, and physician.
An epitome of expertise across many intersecting fields, Green hovered at the border between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space as she ventured across the Kármán line in the approximately 11-minute space trip, according to Blue Origin. Green says her skills of teamwork and stress management, acquired in medical training and as a radiologist, translated to her experience aboard the commercial flight.
Green, who lives in North Carolina, says she spent several days “pushing [her] own envelope of comfort and familiarity” in formal training before the NS-32 spaceflight, though she considers her training to have begun in childhood. Her path into space, however, was not quite linear.
Green first attended the US Space and Rocket Center’s Space Camp when she was 12. Having learned of the women who died while aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger around that same time, Green saw herself in astronauts who “were willing to make that ultimate sacrifice for something that is so much bigger than just ourselves and something that’s bigger for humanity as a whole,” she says.
She returned to Space Camp three more times, including attending Space Academy, where she earned the Outstanding Trainee Award and the Right Stuff Award, and as a crew trainer; she also brought her son to Space Camp. Green recalls the moment she volunteered for the position of commander at the camp despite her limited experience: “In order to get things, you need to ask for them, and you need to not hold yourself back.”
She applied unsuccessfully to NASA in 2020 and to a SpaceX flight in 2021. But through connections to a broader network of astronauts, she learned of the application process for the New Shepard program.
Green, who completed Brown’s Program in Liberal Medical Education, says she intended to pursue emergency medicine before becoming fascinated with radiology through a medical-school elective. Defying the stereotype of radiologists sitting reclusively in dark rooms with only people’s images, Green worked face-to-face with her patients, particularly in her combination of breast, obstetrical, and body imaging—areas that she did not choose between, despite hearing that she would have to do so.
“The beautiful thing about being at a place like Brown is having the opportunity to really stretch your mind in a lot of different ways,” she says.
After encountering the medical legal system, Green launched The Expert Resource, which equips physicians with the skills to appear as expert witnesses and links them to court cases. She manages rental real estate as another entrepreneurial pursuit.
As the first woman physician commercial astronaut, Green reflects on the appreciation she has of those who have walked before her. Her longstanding dedication to and study of history, including through her prior role as a vice chair of the National Women’s History Museum board, provide context and foresight on the potential effects of people’s current decisions, including within more scientifically oriented fields, she says.
Green credits Brown’s PLME, mentors, and classmates with the education, guidance, and encouragement that motivated her to explore her interests and identify her strengths. Through global outreach, she now inspires others to pursue their dreams of becoming astronauts. She also hopes to return to space herself.
“One of the most meaningful experiences that I had during the [NS-32] flight was the immediate recognition that everything I had done, as wide ranging and different as some of these things have been, all added up to exactly what I needed to be there,” she says.