NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR SIRISHA BANDLA

With one small step, this India-born rocket scientist made a giant leap for womankind. The astronaut opens up to Megha Mahindru about why commercial space travel is not just an expensive thrill but a gateway to a phenomenally inclusive future

- Megha Mahindru

For the foreseeable future, Sirisha Bandla is likely to have the same introduction that sets her apart in any room she inhabits: the girl who went to space. In July 2021, the aeronautical engineer was among the five passengers on the Unity 22 spaceflight, a historic feat—not only because Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is the world’s first fully crewed suborbital test flight, but also because Bandla, a girl from Andhra Pradesh, is only the second Indian-born woman to reach this far.

Bandla has a high-watt smile, beautiful curls and the earnest demeanour of the girl next door (who probably topped your class). But she insists she was never the straight-A prodigy you’d expect her to be. “I was one of those kids who could never stay focused on something,” says the 34-year-old astronaut, dressed in a grey Tshirt as she joins me on Zoom from her home in Washington DC.

A Maria Qamar artwork with Hatecopy’s sardonic humour looms over Bandla in the background—a subtle reminder of her desi upbringing—as she regales me with stories of her school days that came with diversions like cello lessons, horse riding, surfing and soccer. The only constant was a dream to reach the sky, fuelled by devouring paperbacks of Issac Asimov and binge-watching Star Trek during her formative years.

LAUNCH PAD