Dream & passion gave space wings to Telugu girl Bandla Sirisha

Guntur: For the first time, a spacecraft will reverberate with the Indian style of greeting 'Namaskaram' as Bandla Sirisha would be flying into space on July 11.

This will be a proud moment for the entire nation and particularly the two Telugu States as the 26-year-old Telugu girl would be making history by entering space for the first time.

There is an air of celebration and ecstasy in the house of her grandparents in Guntur city. Speaking to The Hans India, her grandfather said the countdown for the spaceship may begin 72 hours or so before take-off but for them, the countdown to see their granddaughter wave her hand from space has begun and all of them are "super excited" and are eagerly waiting for that historic moment. Sirisha belongs to a family of educationists.

Her grandfather Dr Bandla Ragaiah worked as a Principal Scientist in the Acharya N G Ranga Agriculture University, in Guntur. Her maternal grandfather R Venkata Narasaiah worked as a college lecturer in Chirala.

Her father Dr Bandla Muralidhar did PhD in Virology from Oklahoma University in the USA and is a member of senior executive service in the US government. Dr Ragaiah said Sirisha was interested in space science and her dream has always been to step into space.

He said right from her childhood days, she has been very active and fearless and used to spend more time trying to learn about rockets, aircraft, and space science. Recalling her formative years, he said at the age of 4 when there was a power outage and the entire area was under darkness, she told her grandmother that there was no need to get scared about darkness.

He said though later Sirisha had gone to the US along with her sister and graduated in aeronautical and space engineering from Purdue University and did MBA degree from Georgetown University in Washington DC. She was still restless as she was not sure about how to get into NASA and fly into space.

It was at this point in time, that she found an alternative to realise her dreams and joined Branson's company Virgin Galactic which was founded to take tourists on short flights to suborbital space and she is now all set to realise her dream. It's a moment of great pride for the entire family. "Our happiness and excitement know no bounds," he said.

Ragaiah said the last time he had seen them here was in 2016 when she along with her parents and sister came to Guntur to take part in the golden jubilee celebrations of his marriage anniversary.

She despite her busy schedule keeps talking to them over the phone, he added. He said she has the blessings of the entire nation and will succeed in her mission.