Pride envelopes AP as Sirisha Bandla returns from outer space

On 11 July 2021, Sir Richard Branson’s life-long dream came true when Virgin Galactic’s Unity 22 reached outer space. The sub-orbital space flight successfully took the crewed flight to its destination, thus making true the possibility of space tourism. The flight was piloted by David Mackay and co-piloted by Michael Masucci with four passengers; including Branson himself and Indian-American Sirisha Bandla, who hails from AP. The Spaceflight launch was live-streamed on YouTube. With the success of Unity 22, Sirisha Bandla became the second Indian-born woman to fly to space, after Kalpana Chawla and the fourth Indian to reach space. 

Born in the Guntur District of AP, 34-year-old Sirisha Bandla always had a fascination with the skies. From a young age, she had a dream to reach outer space. Her dream came true when she boarded the flight to space by Unity 22. An aeronautical engineering graduate, she initially wanted to become a pilot or an astronaut with NASA but was rejected due to poor eyesight. She worked as an aerospace engineer in Texas before joining Virgin Galactic. When the passenger list for the First Fully Crewed Rocket-Powered test flight, Unity 22, was announced, Bandla took to Twitter to share how honoured she felt joining the crew. Through her “life-changing” experience, Sirisha becomes an inspiration not only for the women in India but everywhere else. For those who strive to achieve and live the success of dreams built by themselves. 

Upon successfully reaching space, the 70-year-old billionaire Sir Richard Branson shared a message via a YouTube video posted by the Virgin Galactic YouTube channel. In the 33 seconds long video, Brandon acknowledges ‘the next generation of dreamers’ and says, “I was once a child with a dream, looking up to the stars. Now, I am an adult in a spaceship with lots of wonderful adults.” He further says that if their crew can successfully achieve their goals, imagine what the people of the future can achieve. The crew members, including Sirisha Bandla, were seen enjoying their spaceflight in the video.  

Founded in 2004, Virgin Galactic aims at flying citizens privately to space and experiencing the space outside Planet Earth. Unity 22 was a test flight for future commercial trips by the company. The 1.5 hour-long mission flight took off from New Mexico to the edge of space. Sirisha Bandla was assigned with the post of Researcher Experience as the no. 004 astronaut. Tweets praising her journey started flooding in as soon as the news announcing the success of Unity 22 came by.