Kazakh entrepreneur to become first Central Asian woman to travel into space

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (MNTV) – Danna Karagusova, a 43-year-old entrepreneur from Kazakhstan, is set to make history as the first woman from Central Asia to travel into space, according to Blue Origin, the American aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos.

Karagusova will join five other passengers on the suborbital flight, including entrepreneur Jeff Elgin, engineer Clint Kelly III, startup founder Aaron Newman, Ukrainian businessman Vitaliy Ostrovsky, and one anonymous participant.

The 10–12-minute journey will reach an altitude of 100 kilometers, crossing the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.

While Blue Origin has not disclosed the ticket price, reports suggest deposits were around $150,000, with total costs ranging from $500,000 to $1 million.

Karagusova, a business leader and media innovator from Almaty, first rose to prominence as founder of First Media Group (FMG), one of Kazakhstan’s leading marketing and communications companies, which she led until 2018.

She has over 25 years of experience in media, marketing, and event management, and currently leads Portals, a “multimodal ecosystem for business” that connects public spaces in different cities through real-time interactive installations.

An experienced mountaineer, she has climbed both Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Elbrus, describing space as “humanity’s next evolutionary frontier.”

Karagusova comes from a prominent Kazakh family and is active on Instagram, where she shares insights from her professional and personal life.

She was previously married to blogger Beibit Alibekov, and the couple has three children.

Her upcoming flight with Blue Origin marks a historic milestone for Kazakhstan and the wider Central Asian region, placing her among the few women globally to journey beyond Earth’s atmosphere.