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Super girl Shawna Pandya not jetting off into space anytime soon
What do you call a woman who is an astronaut, a doctor, a published author, an international Taekwondo champion, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, a model, and a lot more? You might think of an adjective, but let us call her Shawna Pandya!
​New Delhi: What do you call a woman who is an astronaut, a doctor, a published author, an international Taekwondo champion, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, a model, and a lot more? You might think of an adjective, but let us call her Shawna Pandya!
Born in Canada, 32-year-old Shawna will follow the footsteps of Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams, as she is gearing up for two space missions in 2018. Out of a talent pool of 3,200 dexterous brains, Shawna was one of the two finalists who made it for this mission.
Shawna became an overnight sensation for being the third Indian-American astronaut to take flight on a space mission in 2018. However, as it turns out, she won't be flying to space anytime soon. After numerous stories on Shawna went viral these days, the lady herself decided to come out with a clarification on Facebook, refuting the various "misstatements" that were reported.
The 32-year-old Shawna is immensely gifted. She’s a talented author, a general physician, and also an international Taekwondo champion, apart from being a space scientist. She also took training in Muay Thai from a Navy seal. Muay Thai is a professional combat sport that originated in Thailand.
Speaking with Edmonton Sun, Pandya said, "Since I was a kid, I loved space, I loved the stars. So this kind of is a realisation of a lifelong dream."
She had previously interned at the Johnson Space Centre in NASA. She pursued Neuroscience for a while at the University of Alberta, but is a general physician. She is multilingual as well since she is fluent in Russian, Spanish and French! She has surpassed the Wonder Woman clearly.
Shawna is currently in Mumbai and is visiting her family. She has also been a TEDex speaker and is now motivating students across the city while she is in her homeland. In a Facebook post, Shawna clarified that her work was separate from the work of the Canadian Space Agency and that of NASA.
“There has been no new announcement, flight assignment or selection of missions with respect to my work as a citizen-scientist astronaut with Project Possum or The PHEnOM Project.
I am no more or less likely to fly than any other member of these projects than I was 24 hours ago,” Shawna wrote on Facebook. She however remains a crew member in the work of both projects.
With a talent pool of this depth, one not only feels crazily proud of her, one can also not stop being in awe of her! When you aim for the moon and fly in the stars, the Earth does become boring after all. More power to you our super girl!
