Indian-origin Sirisha Bandla is set to become the second Indian-born woman to fly into space after Kalpana Chawla. The Indian-American astronaut will be one of the six crew members aboard Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic flight ‘VSS Unity’, which is scheduled to blast off to space on July 11, 2021 from New Mexico.
Sirisha Bandla was born in Andhra Pradesh and grew up in Houston. Speaking on the mission, Bandla said that she is incredibly honored 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 will be astronaut number 4 on the crew.
I am so incredibly honored 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. https://t.co/sPrYy1styc
— Sirisha Bandla (@SirishaBandla)
July 2, 2021
Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu tweeted saying, “Indian-origin women continue to break the proverbial glass ceiling and prove their mettle. On July 11, Sirisha Bandla with Telugu roots is set to fly to space aboard VSS Unity with Richard Branson and the team marking the dawn of the new space age, making all Indians proud.” the post read.
Indian-origin women continue to break the proverbial glass ceiling and prove their mettle. On July 11th, @SirishaBandla with Telugu roots is set to fly to space aboard VSS Unity with @RichardBranson and the team marking the dawn of the new space age, making all Indians proud! pic.twitter.com/oecuztDRBe
— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn)
July 2, 2021
Who is Sirisha Bandla?
• Sirisha Bandla is the Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations at Virgin Galactic, the company that has made the spacecraft.
• She was born in Tenali, a city in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. She was raised in Houston, Texas in the United States of America.
Unity 22 mission: All you need to know
• The 34-year-old will fly into space as a part of billionaire Richard Branson’s “Unity 22” mission aboard Virgin Galactic flight, VSS Unity- a suborbital rocket-powered spaceplane.
• Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group is set to become the first billionaire to go to space, beating Jeff Bezos’ space flight by nine days.
• The 70-year-old founder of Virgin Galactic will travel to space as a mission specialist in the six-member team of the “Unity 22” mission.
• Besides Bandla and Branson, the other members of the “Unity 22” mission include pilots Dave MacKay and Michael Masucci, Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses and lead operations engineer Colin Bennett.
• The Indian-origin astronaut will be taking care of the researcher experience profile on the Unity 22 mission.
• According to the statement by Virgin Galactic, “Bandla will be evaluating the human-tended research experience, using an experiment from the University of Florida that requires several handheld fixation tubes that will be activated at various points in the flight profile.”
• The Virgin Galactic test flight is all set to travel to the edge of space on 11 July. The mission will be the twenty-second flight test for VSS Unity and the fourth crewed spaceflight of Virgin Galactic.
Five facts you need to know!1. Sirisha Bandla will become the second India-born woman to fly to space. 2. Bandla will be the fourth Indian to fly into space. 3. The other Indians who went to space include Rakesh Sharma, Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams. 4. Richard Branson will become the first billionaire to fly to space. 5. The world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos is scheduled to fly into space aboard New Shepard rocket on July 20 from Van Horn, Texas. |
Who was the first India-born woman to fly to space?Kalpana Chawla was the first woman of Indian origin to go to space. She was the first woman of Indian origin to go to space and first flew to space on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator. Her second flight was the final flight of Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003. On February 1, 2003, the ill-fated space shuttle disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all the seven crew members on board including Kalpana Chawla. She was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. |
Background
UK billionaire and founder of Virgin Galactic company, Richard Branson had announced on June 2 that he will fly to the edge of space on July 11th. He had tweeted recently saying, “I’ve always been a dreamer. My mum taught me to never give up and to reach for the stars. On July 11, it’s time to turn that dream into a reality aboard the next @VirginGalactic spaceflight.”
This will be Virgin Galactic’s first fully crewed rocket-powered test flight. It comes after over 16 years of research, engineering, and testing. The company aims to make space available for all.
I’ve always been a dreamer. My mum taught me to never give up and to reach for the stars. On July 11, it’s time to turn that dream into a reality aboard the next @VirginGalactic spaceflight https://t.co/x0ksfnuEQ3 #Unity22 pic.twitter.com/GWskcMSXyA
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson)
July 1, 2021