MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Popular television host, best-selling author and Morgantown native Emily Calandrelli, a.k.a The Space Gal will soon be undertaking a mission into space herself.
She came on MetroNews ‘Talkline’ with Hoppy Kercheval Tuesday to announce the major news.
“This is something that I have been working towards what feels my entire life, but today I am very excited to announce that I am going to become an astronaut by flying with the private space company Blue Origin, and by doing so, I will become the first woman from West Virginia to fly to space,” Calandrelli announced on Talkline.
I’m so excited to share that I’ll be flying to space with @blueorigin 💙🪶
I’ll become one of the first ~100 women in space and the first female astronaut from West Virginia. pic.twitter.com/WZUdQmiL1a
— Emily Calandrelli (@TheSpaceGal) July 16, 2024
The future flight will be on Blue Origin’s New Shepard launch vehicle and will take place at its Launch Site One in West Texas.
New Shepard flies six passengers at a time, following a similar flight trajectory as the first American to go to space, Alan Shepard.
So far the privately-owned space company has successfully transported seven humans to space, including aerospace legends Wally Funk and Ed Dwight.
Calandrelli is an engineer, an Emmy-nominated TV host, and a #1 NYTimes best-selling author known as The Space Gal that holds a platform of followers nearly 3 million strong. She uses her platform to educate kids about science and space-related topics.
After Calandrelli became the first American woman to be the sole host of the nationally-broadcasted series known as Xploration Outer Space, she said she is now ready to become the first West Virginian woman in space.
She said women in space flight in general needs some more representation.
“When you see these rocket launches, you see someone like Jeff Bezos going to space and it can feel sort of like a joy ride I guess, but for someone like myself, I’m a woman in engineering, I’m a woman in STEM, I make up a very small percentage,” Calandrelli said.
Calandrelli said people, especially women in Appalachia much less really need some more positive media representation.
“To be able to represent people in West Virginia in this way, people in Appalachia in this way, girls in this way, mothers in this way, I’m just excited to be able to leverage this opportunity to share this experience with as many people in West Virginia as possible,” she said.
Calandrelli has a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from WVU and a Master’s in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT.
However, she is now partnering up with Marshall University to raise the funds for her mission to space.
Specifically, Calandrelli has partnered with the Wing 2 Wing Foundation, a philanthropic organization that aims to provide more access to education started by Marshall President and First Lady Brad and Alys Smith.
Through the partnership, she will use her platform to put a spotlight on access to education as well as another program at the university, Marshall For All, Marshall Forever, which allows students to graduate from Marshall and complete relevant work experiences to go through college debt free.
Being a Mountaineer, however, Calandrelli said she’s hoping to partner with someone from WVU to help her on her journey in completing the space mission as well.
“I’m so grateful to be working with Marshall who’s helping with this, I’m hopeful to find somebody with my own alma mater that I can work with to bring the West Virginia University flag to space,” she said.
While she couldn’t say when she would be embarking on the major mission to space, Calandrelli did say she will be going a week ahead of time with her crew to train to ride in the autonomous vehicle.
After flying in other aircraft, she said she feels confident she has what it takes to successfully complete the journey.
“I’ve flown in an F18 with the Blue Angles, I’ve flown in an F16 with the Thunderbirds, I’ve experienced 9-G and walked away from it, and so I’ve done some extreme things in my life already that I think have prepared me for this moment right here,” Calandrelli said.
You can keep up with Calandrelli’s journey into to space by following her at all of her social media platforms @TheSpaceGal.