Hayley Arceneaux will be the youngest American woman in space

29-year-old medical assistant and cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux is the latest member to join SpaceX’s all-civilian crew. Her age makes her the youngest American to ever be in space – and that’s only a things that make her a badass.

Arceneaux breaks many borders. Women have been to space before, but in smaller numbers than their male colleagues. Before Arceneaux, SpaceX had only sent one other woman to the moon. And she totally breaks the boundaries that would normally prevent someone like her from heading into space. Arceneaux was diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of 10. Of The 19:

According to current NASA medical guidelines, Arceneaux could not have participated in the mission: she has an artificial joint in her leg and a titanium rod in the left thigh bone resulting from her treatment. She spent a year enduring intchemotherapy and surgery to remove a lump that had formed on her left knee. She had to learn to walk again.

Astronauts undergo rigorous physical testing to qualify for the flight, and a prosthesis would have disqualified her for a mission without the commercial nature of the flight. Women were initially excluded from spaceflight due to assumptions about fitness and gender expectations.

She is able to make the trip because the flight is run by billionaire Jared Isaacman, who bought the flight from SpaceX and decided to reserve two seats for people who received treatment or worked in St. Jude. Arceneaux, a former patient, was only working as a medical assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital when she got the call to join the team.

His answer was a “yes!” Resounding. followed by a request that she asks her mother, who has gone through a lot to keep her daughter healthy. But it was the kind of opportunity that you would be ridiculous to pass up.

“Women belong to space… I will not be the last,” Arceneaux said. “And I’m extremely excited to represent women and then represent those who are not physically perfect.”