Sirisha Bandla, soon to become the second Indian-born woman to go to space, after Kalpana Chawla, has been receiving a lot of appreciation for her space expedition from across the world. Back in India, her grandfather has expressed his happiness, calling Bandla “brave and strong in decision-making".
“I'm very happy. From the beginning, she was very fascinated with the sky. Now she's going to space with five other members. She is very brave and very strong in her decision,” her paternal grandfather, Dr Ragaiah told news agency ANI.
“I, along with my friends and relatives, wish her a successful and happy return to the land after completion of her journey,” he added.
Bandla, born in Andhra Pradesh and raised in Texas, will be part of the six-member space travelling crew including Virgin Galactic’s founder Richard Branson.
Sirisha Bandla is the Vice President, Government Affairs and Research Operations at Virgin Galactic. As part of the space flight mission, 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 crew will onboard Virgin Galactic’s ‘VSS Unity’ is scheduled to take off on July 11 from Mexico.
Published 05 July 2021, 07:21 IST