Sirisha Bandla will fly into space aboard Virgin Galactic mission and will be one of the six space travellers aboard VSS Unity of Virgin Galactic, scheduled to take off to space on July 11 from New Mexico alongside the founder of Virgin Galactic Richard Branson.
Her grandfather expressed how proud he is of his granddaughter. He said that Bandla is brave, strong in decision making and has been fascinated from the sky from the beginning, reported ANI.?
Talking more about the aeronautical engineere, Dr Ragaih said,?"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 brave and strong in decision-making."
"I, along with my friends and relatives, wish her a successful and happy return to the land after completion of her journey," Dr Ragaiah said while speaking to ANI on Sunday in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district.?
A Telugu woman by origin, Bandla was brought up in Houston, Texas. She will become the second India-born woman to fly into space after Kalpana Chawla. Rakesh Sharma and Sunita Williams were the other Indians who went into space prior to Bandla.
She expressed how she was "incredibly honoured" to be part of the crew.??"I am so incredibly honoured 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," she wrote on Twitter.
We wish her all the best!