India-born PIO woman astronaut to go into space |
Sirisha Bandla will be the second Indian-born woman and the first of Telugu origin to go to space. She will be part of the Virgin Atlantic`s crew that will fly into space on 11th July from New Mexico. The crew comprises a total of 6 space travellers with 4 mission specialists and 2 pilots. Four mission specialists are Sirisha Bandla – Researcher Experience, Colin Bennett – Cabin Procedures Evaluation, Beth Moses – Spaceship Cabin Lead & Test Director, Richard Branson – Evaluating Customer Spaceflight Experience. It also comprises 2 pilots – Dave Mackay, Chief Pilot and Michael Masucci. Virgin Galactic tweeted, “Our first fully crewed rocket-powered test flight is planned to take place on July 11th with two pilots and four mission specialists including @RichardBranson onboard. If we were flying your crew, who`d be floating in zero gravity next to you? Tag your astronauts! #Unity22”. Sirisha and Beth Moses will be the two women crew members on the trip. 34-year-old Sirisha is an aeronautical engineer and will be the second Indian-born woman to go into space after Kalpana Chawla and the fourth Indian after Kalpana Chawla, Rakesh Sharma and Sunita Williams to fly into space. Sirisha is the Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations at Virgin Galactic, who will be taking care of the researcher experience on the Unity22 mission. Sharing the news, Sirisha tweeted, “I am so incredibly honoured to be a part of the amazing crew of #Unity22, and to be a part of a company whose mission is to make space available to all.” Sirisha was born in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh and grew up in Houston, Texas. She is a graduate in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University and also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Georgetown University.
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