Sirisha Bandla to Fly Into Space Aboard Virgin Galactic Flight, Set to Become Second India-Born Woman to Achieve Feat After Kalpana Chawla
Sirisha Bandla, an Indian-origin aeronautical engineer, will be flying into the space along with five other crew members on the Virgin Galactic's first fully crewed rocket powered test flight on July 11. Bandla, who was born Andhra Pradesh and grew up in Houston, will take up the role of researcher experience onboard.
New Delhi, July 3: Sirisha Bandla, an Indian-origin aeronautical engineer, will be flying into the space along with five other crew members on the Virgin Galactic's first fully crewed rocket powered test flight on July 11. Bandla, who was born Andhra Pradesh and grew up in Houston, will take up the role of researcher experience onboard. Bandla shared the news on Twitter and wrote, "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."Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to Go to Space With Brother in Blue Origin's First Human Space Flight in July.
She further added, "I really didn't need to tweet this since my friends flooded the feed yesterday with it I was overwhelmed (in a good way!) by messages of love, unrecognizable capital text, and positivity yesterday. Slowly working my way through them...one platform at a time!" Bandla reportedly joined Virgin Galactic in 2015 and currently working as the Vice President Government Affairs and Research Operations at the spaceflight company. Petition to 'Not Allow Jeff Bezos to Re-Enter Earth' Floats on Internet as Amazon CEO Gets Set to Fly to Space on Blue Origin Flight.
Read The Tweet By Sirisha Bandla Here:
This makes Bandla the second Indian-born women to fly into the space, only after Kaplana Chawla and the fourth Indian to do so. Richard Branson, British business mogul and the founder of Virgin Group, will also be onboard on the test flight, Unity 22, that is schedule to take off on July 11, nine days ahead of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, from New Mexico.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 03, 2021 05:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).