Meet the India born astronaut who will fly into space with Richard Branson

Accompanying Richard Branson on his highly anticipated July 11 space flight will be Indian American Sirisha Bandla.

One of the six space travellers aboard VSS Unity of Virgin Galactic, Sirisha Bandla's role will be that of a researcher experience.

The 34-year-old aeronautical engineer, who graduated from Purdue University, will be the Astronaut 004 in the 6-member crew.

According to reports, Sirisha Bandla was born in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur and grew up in Houston, Texas.

She will be the second Indian-born woman to go into space after Kalpana Chawla and the fourth Indian to fly into space.

Sirisha Bandla and Beth Moses will be the two women crew members on the trip.

"I am so incredibly honored 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," she tweeted along with a video of the crew.

The Virgin Galactic flight will last between approximately 60 and 75 minutes and will take off and land back at Virgin Galactic's Spaceport America in New Mexico.

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