Sirisha Bandla, this 34-year-old, native to India’s southern region, Andhra Pradesh is making headlines and the country proud as she becomes the second Indian-origin woman to travel to space as part of Virgin SpaceShip Unity on July 11. She will be one of the six space travellers aboard 'VSS Unity' of Virgin Galactic, which is scheduled to take off from New Mexico. The company’s founder Richard Branson will also go along with the members.
Born in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district, Sirisha is a Telugu woman brought up in Houston who will be the second Indian-origin woman after Kalpana Chawla to fly into space. Before Bandla, it was Rakesh Sharma and Sunita Williams who were the other Indians to go to space.
Currently, Sirisha works as the vice-president of Government Affairs and Research Operations at Virgin Galactic in Washington DC in the United States.
Ms Bandla holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering in 2011 from Purdue University. She has also done her MBA from George Washington University in 2015.
The young aeronautical engineer took to her Twitter account and shared this incredibly happy news by saying that she was “honoured” to be a part of the crew.
"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 wrote.
Dr Ragaiah, Ms Bandla’s paternal grandfather while speaking to news agency ANI said that he is overwhelmed with happiness, adding that she is brave and strong when it comes to making decisions. She has always been focused and courageous, Ragaiah said.
"I am overwhelmed with joy and happiness that my second granddaughter is going to space. She has been very brave right from the beginning and is a very strong decision-maker. She completed her schooling in the US. She has always had a fascination for the sky," said the 85-year-old grandfather.
Ragiah further adds that “She had high aspirations from the beginning. Family members always encouraged her and never forced her to do something in a certain way. She was always free to make her own decisions.”
Ms Bandla’s decision to enter into Commercial Space was not planned. She had taken her chances. Earlier, Sirisha had said that one of her professors from Purdue University informed her about an opportunity at CSF and she discovered her love for the policy world and the commercial space industry by getting associated with it.
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Though her weak eyesight was a barrier for her to become an astronaut, by the time she entered high school, she understood that she could never be an astronaut at NASA due to her eye condition. However, this did not stop her from dreaming and today she will be flying off into space and has fulfilled the dreams of becoming an astronaut.