Sirisha Bandla | |
|---|---|
బండ్ల శిరీష | |
| Born | |
| Status | Active |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Purdue University,George Washington University |
| Space career | |
Current occupation | Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations,Virgin Galactic |
Previous occupation | Commercial Astronaut |
Time in space | 14 min 17 seconds |
| Selection | Virgin Galactic |
| Missions | Virgin Galactic Unity 22 |
Mission insignia |  |
Sirisha Bandla (Telugu:బండ్ల శిరీష;c. 1988) is aTelugu Americanaeronautical engineer andcommercial astronaut.[2] She is the Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations forVirgin Galactic.[3] She flew on theVirgin Galactic Unity 22 mission which made her the second India-born woman to go to space and the fourth person of Indian descent ever to go past theline of space afterRakesh Sharma,Kalpana Chawla andSunita Williams.[4][5][6]
Bandla was born into aTeluguHindu[citation needed] family in theGuntur district ofAndhra Pradesh,India.[7][8] After her birth, Bandla's family moved toTenali, Andhra Pradesh. Until the age of five, Bandla split her time between her grandfather's house inHyderabad, and her grandmother's house in Tenali.[9][10] Bandla later moved toHouston,United States with her parents.[9][11]
Bandla received herbachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering fromPurdue University. She subsequently achieved her master's degree in business administration fromGeorge Washington University.[12]
Bandla hoped to become aNASA astronaut but was ruled out on medical grounds due to her eyesight.[11] She previously worked for theCommercial Spaceflight Federation as an aerospace engineer withMatthew Isakowitz.[12] She later co-founded theMatthew Isakowitz Fellowship in his honor.[13]
Bandla joined Virgin Galactic in 2015, where she works as the vice president of government affairs.[5] On Sunday 11 July 2021 Bandla flew on the Virgin Galactic Unity 22 test flight alongsideSir Richard Branson, Dave Mackay,Michael Masucci,Beth Moses,Colin Bennett. The rocket plane flew 85 km (53 mi) above Earth,[4] thereby qualifying the crew asFAAcommercial astronauts.[14] During the flight, Bandla conducted an experiment from theUniversity of Florida to investigate how plants react to the change ingravity.[15] About her flight, Bandla's grandfather, Dr Bandla Ragaiah, said: “From a very young age she had this ambition to explore the sky, the moon, and the stars. Sirisha had set her eyes on space, and I am not at all surprised that she is all set to realise her dream."[9] During her spaceflight, she reached a height of 89.9 km above the Earth's surface. Unity 22, being the first fully crewed test flight for Virgin Galactic, qualified Sirisha to be awarded commercial astronaut wings by the Federal Aviation Authority.[16]
She was honored as one of theBBC 100 Women in December 2022.[17]
The US government is making it official, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and William Shatner have earned the title of astronaut after their flights to the edge of space. The Federal Aviation Administration will also award Commercial Space Astronaut Wings to 12 other people who have flown at least 50 miles above Earth on a FAA licensed commercial spacecraft, including the crew of SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission. The FAA will award wings to eight people who flew on Blue Origin's New Shepherd spacecraft, three who flew on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, and to the four members of the SpaceX crew who spent three days in space in September.
Parent company:Virgin Group | |
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