Three private astronauts assigned to a future Delta-class mission aboard Virgin Galactic, representing the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences. From left: Shawna Pandya , director of ILAS's space medicine group; Kellie Gerardi , ILAS director of human spaceflight operations; Norah Patten , aeronautical engineer and bioastronautics researcher.Virgin Galactic has named one of the first commercial astronaut crews for its Delta-class planes, set to fly no earlier than 2026.
The three crew members will expand on research that Gerardi performed during Galactic 05, focusing on fluid behavior with applications to human health, Virgin officialsspaceplane on June 8. That flight carried a Turkish researcher and three private astronauts to space after being released from the VSS Eve carrier vehicle. Delta will allow for more frequent flights than the earlier generation once it flies, Virgin has said repeatedly, but as the upgrade happens no spaceflights will occur.
Pandya, director of IIAS' space medicine group, thanked the organization for nine years of support so far.
Elizabeth Howell , Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer forfor 10 years before joining full-time.
Education Education Latest News, Education Education Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: SPACEdotcom - 🏆 92. / 67 Read more »