Texas: Telugu origin woman Sirisha Bandla is going to space with virgin Galactic launching its crewed test space flight on July 11. She is all set to realize her childhood dream of going to space; she will be the backbone of this operation. She was accompanied with the Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson to space.

Brandson’s company on Thursday announced the launch of its fourth test flight to space. The winged rocket ship will soar from New Mexico and will be the first flight carrying a full crew of company employees. The mission specialists of virgin Galactic, who include chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses, lead operations engineer Colin Bennett and government affairs VP Sirisha Bandla. Pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci will fly the VSS Unity spacecraft.

Sirisha Bandla hailes from Andhra Pradesh and grew up in Houston, Texas. Her zeal to learn more about space inspired her to pursue a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical-astronautical engineering from Purdue. She also holds an MBA from George Washington University. After completing her graduation, she worked in the space policy department of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF), an industrial association of spaceflight companies.

She is currently working with the government affairs and business development wing of Virgin Galactic and its sister company, Virgin Orbit. Her contributions supported the Launcher One and Space Ship Two programs.