Indian-origin aeronautical engineer to fly into space





Sirisha Bandla, a 34-year-old aeronautical engineer, is set to become the third Indian- origin woman to head to space when she flies as part of Virgin Galactic’s first fully crewed flight test on Sunday. Ms. Bandla, who was born in Guntur, Andhra Pra- desh, and brought up in Houston, Texas, will join Sir Richard Branson, the com- pany’s billionaire founder, and five others on board Vir- gin Galactic’s SpaceShipT- wo Unity to make a journey to the edge of space from New Mexico. “I am so incredibly ho- noured to be a part of the amazing crew of #Unity22, and to be a part of a compa- ny whose mission is to make space available to all,” she tweeted.

Ms. Bandla will be astro- naut no 004 and her flight role will be Researcher Ex- perience, according to her profile on Virgin Galactic. She will become the third Indian-origin woman to fly into space after Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams. Ms. Bandla started in her role as the Vice President of Government Affairs and Re- search Operations at Virgin Galactic in January 2021.


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