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14 Facts About Sirisha Bandla

1.

Sirisha Bandla was born on 1988 and is a Telugu American aeronautical engineer and commercial astronaut.

2.

Sirisha Bandla is the Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations for Virgin Galactic.

3.

Sirisha Bandla flew on the Virgin Galactic Unity 22 mission which made her the second India-born woman to go to space and the fourth person of Indian descent ever to go past the line of space after Rakesh Sharma, Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams.

4.

Sirisha Bandla later moved to Houston, United States with her parents.

5.

Sirisha Bandla received her bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University.

6.

Sirisha Bandla subsequently achieved her master's degree in business administration from George Washington University.

7.

Sirisha Bandla hoped to become a NASA astronaut but was ruled out on medical grounds due to her eyesight.

8.

Sirisha Bandla previously worked for the Commercial Spaceflight Federation as an aerospace engineer with Matthew Isakowitz.

9.

Sirisha Bandla later co-founded the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship in his honor.

10.

Sirisha Bandla joined Virgin Galactic in 2015, where she works as the vice president of government affairs.

11.

On Sunday 11 July 2021 Sirisha Bandla flew on the Virgin Galactic Unity 22 test flight alongside Sir Richard Branson, Dave Mackay, Michael Masucci, Beth Moses, Colin Bennett.

12.

Sirisha Bandla had set her eyes on space, and I am not at all surprised that she is all set to realise her dream.

13.

Unity 22, being the first fully crewed test flight for Virgin Galactic, qualified Sirisha Bandla to be awarded commercial astronaut wings by the Federal Aviation Authority.

14.

Sirisha Bandla was honored as one of the BBC 100 Women in December 2022.