A Mayo woman who works for a space research company in Dublin is set to become Ireland’s first astronaut.
Dr. Norah Patten is originally from Ballina but now lives in Dublin and works for Realtra Space Systems Engineering in Coolock.
She is part of a team being sent by the International Institute of Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) to advance scientific knowledge on supporting life in space and follows on from a similar mission the carried out by the institute last year.
The commercial space flight will be less than two hours long and is sub-orbital, meaning that it will travel to and from space without going around the earth.
Dr. Patten has been speaking to Midwest Radio’s Alannah Nolan:
