Second Indian Woman In Space From America

Sirisha Bandla is the second Indian woman in space from America. Here is everything you need to know about Indian-born American women to visit space. 

First Indian Woman in Space

Kalpana Chawla who was born in Karnal, India was the first Indian female astronaut to visit space on America’s Space Shuttle Columbia in 1993. She died at the age of 41 in 2003 with six other crew members when Columbia disintegrated mid-air.  

Sirisha Bandla Biography

Bandla was born in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, India in 1987 and became the second Indian woman astronaut to go to space and the third woman with Indian Origin to visit space. 

Personal Life

Both her parents Muralidhar and Anuradha serve the U.S. Government, her sister Pratyusha Bandla is a Biological Science Technician. Sirisha Bandla is currently engaged to Sean Hu who is an electrical engineer. 

She studied B.sc aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering along with an MBA at Purdue University and George Washington University.

Career

Her parents are unknown about how Sirisha got interested in space exploration but have been supportive about her choices throughout her life. 

Bandla worked as a design, test, and analysis co-operator at ATA engineering for around 3 years. From there she joined as a mechanical engineer at L-3 Communications Integrated  System, then served as an Associate Director in the space policy department of the CSF.

Her final step in becoming a Unity 22 team member began when she joined Virgin Galactic in 2015 as a Governmental Affairs officer. She was promoted as a manager in 2017  and functioned as the Director of Washington Operations. 

As of 2021 Sirisha is the Vice President of Governmental Affairs of the Virgin Group, serving member of the American Astronautical Society and Future Space Leaders Foundation.  

Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group formed Unity 22 to fulfill his old dream to visit space yesterday on the 11th of July 2021 with five other astronauts inclusive of Sirisha. “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,” Sirish shared the news via Twitter. 

Virgin Group is currently invested in designing passenger rockets in order to make space travel possible for everyone.