Sirisha Bandla, a 34-year-old aeronautical engineer, is about to grow to be the third Indian-origin girl to head to space when she flies as a part of Virgin Galactic’s first absolutely crewed flight take a look at on Sunday.
Ms. Bandla, who was born in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, and introduced up in Houston, Texas, will be part of Sir Richard Branson, the corporate’s billionaire founder, and 5 others on board Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Unity to make a journey to the sting of space from New Mexico.
“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,” she tweeted.
Ms. Bandla will probably be astronaut no 004 and her flight position will probably be Researcher Experience, in accordance to her profile on Virgin Galactic.
She will grow to be the third Indian-origin girl to fly into space after Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams.
Ms. Bandla began in her position because the Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations at Virgin Galactic in January 2021.