User:Toa Nidhiki05 (Work)/Kellie Gerardi

Kellie Gerardi (born February 16, 1989) is an American payload specialist, bioastronautics researcher, and popular science communicator. who is known for her sub-orbital spaceflight with Virgin Galactic and being one of the first 100 women astronauts.

Research and science communication
After meeting Richard Garriott at The Explorers Club in 2014, she decided to join. She later served on the board of directors. She now serves the Truman National Security Project as part of the Defense Council.

In 2014, she was accepted as candidate for the Mars One mission, a bankrupt organization that planned to colonize Mars as a reality television show, which gained her national attention.

In February 2014, she spent two spent two months training as a crew member at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS). In 2015, she wrote an essay in Popular Mechanics about her experience at the MDRS, which included evaluated moving in a space suit. In an interview with Popular Science, she said they tested the ability to grow hops in a simulated Martian regolith using Earthen soil as a control. She said the experiments showed beer could be brewed on Mars. In 2017, Gerardi joined a private international education and research facility called the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) that uses Florida Institute of Technology for accreditation. Following her completion of a program focused on polar suborbital science in the upper mesosphere (“Project PoSSUM”), Gerardi joined IIAS as a bioastronautics researcher, conducting microgravity research campaigns with the National Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Space Agency. Gerardi currently serves as the Director of Human Spaceflight Operations for IIAS. The program conducts bioastronautics research and space-suit technology development. She said she was motivated to democratize space access, and believes a "tidal wave of scientific research" can come from it.

On November 2, 2023, Gerardi flew the sub-orbital spaceflight operated by Virgin Galactic, Galactic 05, as a payload specialist doing scientific research. Onboard, Gerardi operated three biomedical and thermodynamic fluid experiments on behalf of IIAS. Gerardi operated a fluid cell designed to help better predict and control the shape and location of fluid within a container in microgravity. She also wore the Astroskin biomonitoring device to collect a wide range of biometric data during her flight. A third experiment studied insulin-resistance during spaceflight, and Gerardi wore a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) to measure and store glucose readings.

In June 2024, Virgin Galactic announced Gerardi as a crew member on a second research spaceflight scheduled for as early as 2026 aboard the Company’s Delta Class spaceship. The mission is designed to enable IIAS to introduce new research while also expanding upon the results from the Galactic 05 mission. Gerardi will be leading an all-female, international research space flight crew from IIAS.

Gerardi is a popular science communicator. As of March 2024, she had over 764,000 followers on TikTok. As of March 2024, she had over 500,000 followers on Instagram. Gerardi “[believes] in the democratization of access to space and the expansion of Earth's economicsphere”, for "researchers to use space as a laboratory to benefit humanity", and advocates for “the science and engineering of space exploration. In 2021 and 2023, she walked in New York Fashion Week shows, wearing her navy space suit and a space-themed dress she designed, respectively. In 2021, Gerardi partnered with NASA to host the first all-female episode of NASA Science Live during Women's History Month.

In 2020, Mango Publishing published her first book, Not Necessarily Rocket Science: A Beginner's Guide To Life in the Space Age.  

Gerardi writes a series of children's books about space called Luna Muna. The book was read from the International Space Station by Axiom Mission 3 Commander Peggy Whitson, and was featured in the First Lady’s Reading Nook at the 2024 White House Easter Egg Roll.

Career
In 2012, she joined the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, a U.S. trade association for commercial spaceflight. Gerardi also worked in business development at Masten Space Systems.

In 2015, she began working with Palantir Technologies, a Peter Thiel software company. She leads mission operations at the company, which Palantir describes as "logistical special forces". She said she was sent to help Team Rubicon provide disaster relief to people impacted by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Gerardi currently serves as the Director of Human Spaceflight Operations for IIAS.

Personal life
Gerardi graduated from Jupiter Community High School in 2007, in the town of Jupiter, Florida, where she was born. She said she watched space shuttles launch from Cape Canaveral from her bedroom window. She studied documentary film making at Barnard College and transferred to New York University (NYU). She graduated from NYU in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in film. In 2016, Gerardi joined the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences and specialized in bioastronautics research and spacesuit research.

In 2015, her space-themed wedding at Woodstock Inn & Resort in Vermont was officiated by astronaut Michael López-Alegría, a commander of the International Space Station. Gerardi lives in Jupiter, Florida with her husband and their daughter Delta V, who was named for delta-v, the quantitative measure of a change in velocity.