Proud Moment For Telugus, AP CM On Sirisha Bandla's Space Mission

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that it's a proud moment for the state as the Guntur-born Bandla Sirisha flying on Virgin Galactic spaceflight and wished her good luck in the space mission.

The trajectory of the 34-year aeronautical engineer has been amazing and reached great heights and Sirisha, the second Indian-born woman in Space,  would propel to higher orbits by the successful mission of Unity 22, the Chief Minister said.

Few days before the flight, Sirisha Bandla took to her Twitter and wrote, "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."

The main objective for Unity 22 was to serve as a test flight for future commercial passenger flights by Virgin Galactic.

Sirisha Bandla was astronaut No. 004, and her flight role was Researcher Experience. She was born in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh and raised in Houston. Two pilots and three other crew members were also on board, including billionaire Branson, who turns 71 in a week.

She moved to the US at the age of four and completed her graduation from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University in 2011. She finished her Master of Business Administration degree from George Washington University in 2015.

Branson founded Virgin Galactic in 2004 with the goal of flying private citizens to the edge of space. Passengers will be able to experience three to four minutes of weightlessness and witness the curvature of the Earth during the journeys.