Sirisha BANDLA

Spaceflight: UNITY 22 • Astronaut

Sirisha Bandla is an aerospace professional that most recently worked as the Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations for Virgin Galactic. In this role, Sirisha oversaw legislative, regulatory, and government business priorities for the company, as well as work with research customers to fly science and technology experiments on VG’s SpaceShip class of vehicles. Sirisha launched to space as part of the Unity22 crew in 2021, the first fully crewed spaceflight for the company.

Previously, Sirisha served as the Associate Director for the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, an industry association of commercial spaceflight companies. At CSF, Sirisha worked on various policies with the aim to promote and enable the then emerging commercial space industry. Before CSF, she worked as an aerospace engineer designing components for advanced aircraft at L-3 Communications in Greenville, Texas.

Sirisha has a Bachelors of Science degree in aeronautical/astronautical engineering from Purdue and holds a Masters of Business Administration from the George Washington University. Sirisha serves on the Brooke Owens Fellowship Program and the Future Space Leaders Foundation, and on the Advisory Council for The Planetary Society. Sirisha also helped to organize the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program, an internship and mentorship program that provides summer opportunities to current college juniors, seniors, and graduate students passionate about commercial spaceflight.

Events

International Astronautical Congress 2025

29 September - 3 October 2025

Sydney, Australia

Participation:

The Global Space Exploration Conference 2025

7-9 May 2025

New Delhi, India

Participation:

International Astronautical Congress 2024

14-18 October 2024

Milan, Italy

Participation:

International Astronautical Congress 2019

21-25 October 2019

Washington, United States

Participation:

International Astronautical Congress 2018

1–5 October 2018

Bremen, Germany

Participation:

International Astronautical Congress 2016

26-30 September 2016

Guadalajara, Mexico

Participation:

Participation