Kellie Gerardi is an astronaut, researcher and popular science communicator. On November 2nd, Kellie will fly to space as a payload specialist on the Galactic 05 research mission with Virgin Galactic, during which she conducted healthcare and thermodynamic fluid experiments on behalf of the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS). You can read more about her research experiments here. 

 

 As one of the world's first payload specialists to fly on a commercial spacecraft and one of the first 100 women in space, Kellie has made it her mission to enable the next generation of scientists and civilians to use space as a laboratory to benefit humanity. 

 

In addition to her work as a bioastronautics researcher with IIAS, Kellie leads Mission Operations for Palantir Technologies, serves on the Defense Council for the Truman National Security Project and served on the Board of Directors for The Explorers Club, whose prestigious flag she carried on a crew expedition to the Mars Desert Research Station.

 

Kellie is a passionate science communicator with a loyal following of nearly one million supporters across her social platforms (@kelliegerardi). She is the author of Not Necessarily Rocket Science and the acclaimed children's book series LUNA MUNA, which was read aloud from the International Space Station in 2023. She lives in Jupiter, Florida with her husband and their daughter Delta V.