Meet ‘beautiful astronaut’ and TikTok star, Kellie Gerardi: the 35-year-old mum joined a Virgin Galactic crew as the 90th woman in space – and had Star Wars Stormtroopers at her wedding

24/06/2024

Gerardi worked as a payload specialist on Virgin Galactic's Galactic 05 research mission in November 2023, becoming the 90th woman to fly to space - but she studied filmmaking at college
The 35-year-old Floridian had Stormtroopers at her wedding, and is mum to 6-year-old daughter Delta V - she's also spoken about how women should be unapologetically themselves in space

Meet Kellie Gerardi: mum, researcher, astronaut and author, who became the 90th woman in history to fly to space. Oh, and she's also a TikTok star.

meet ‘beautiful astronaut’ and tiktok star, kellie gerardi: the 35-year-old mum joined a virgin galactic crew as the 90th woman in space – and had star wars stormtroopers at her wedding

Commercial astronaut, researcher and science communicator Kellie Gerardi. Photo: Getty Images

Last November, Gerardi joined a Virgin Galactic crew for her first flight to space as a payload specialist. She conducted healthcare research funded by the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) - and became one of the world's first industry-sponsored researchers to fly on a commercial spacecraft.

According to Virgin Galactic's website, she has made it her mission to "use space as a laboratory to benefit humanity".

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A still from a Virgin Galactic video shows the June 2023 launch of Galactic 01, the company's first commercial flight to the edge of space. Photo: AFP Photo

Here's what you need to know about the 35-year-old beautiful astronaut.

What is Kellie Gerardi's background?

Kellie Gerardi and her friend and colleague Sirisha Bandla, back in 2012. Photo: @kelliegerardi/Instagram

Born in February 1989 in Jupiter, Florida, Gerardi recalled her childhood in an interview with Jupiter magazine: "Growing up here, my bedroom window faced northeast and that stretch of sky over Cape Canaveral. I could literally watch space shuttle launches from my bedroom."

She graduated from Jupiter Community High School in 2007 and moved to New York City to study documentary filmmaking at Barnard College.

Kellie Gerardi and Sirisha Bandla (bottom) admiring planet Earth from space. Photo: @kelliegerardi/Instagram

While working in the cloakroom at the Explorers Club - an organisation promoting the scientific exploration of land, sea, air and space - Gerardi met astronaut Richard Garriott, who talked to her about opportunities in commercial space flight. This prompted Gerardi to pursue research in bioastronautics at the IIAS in Colorado after finishing her bachelor's degree at NYU in 2011. She shared with the same publication: "As a new grad, to me it felt like: wow, that's the Star Trek future I want to be a part of!"

What exactly does Kellie Gerardi do in space?

Kellie Gerardi with astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria (left) and Ken Ham at Blast Off: The Future of Spaceflight, an event held at the Explorers Club in May 2014, in New York City. Photo: Getty Images for The Explorers Club

Gerardi began her career in 2012 at the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, where she worked as a lobbyist, media specialist and copywriter. She was a payload specialist on last November's Galactic 05 research mission with Virgin Galactic. As Gerardi explained in an interview with Space.com, she had three experiments to perform on the Galactic 05 mission: one on how fluids behave in a low-gravity environment, one involving a wearable biomonitoring device, and a glucose monitoring experiment.

In addition to continuing bioastronautics research work for the IIAS, Gerardi has been mission operations lead for Colorado-based software company Palantir Technologies since November 2015, according to her LinkedIn. She also serves on the defence council of the Truman National Security Project and served on the executive board of the Explorers Club - she's come a long way from her cloakroom assistant days!

Kellie Gerardi is a science communicator

Kellie Gerardi in a post shared with her followers in March. Photo: @kelliegerardi/Instagram

Gerardi is the author of Not Necessarily Rocket Science: A Beginner's Guide to Life in the Space Age (2020), as well as the children's picture book series Luna Muna (2022-23), which astronaut Peggy Whitson read as a bedtime story from space in May 2023.

Gerardi is also a keen science communicator, with nearly 817,000 followers on Instagram and more than 795,000 on TikTok. She shares Reels and snaps of her life in space, as well as inspiring messages about female empowerment and motherhood, often including her daughter.

Per Virgin Galactic's website, the 35-year-old believes that she's "just an ordinary person and mother who embarked on an extraordinary journey".

Kellie Gerardi is a wife and mother

Kellie Gerardi with her daughter, Delta V, in a sponsored post for Oreo limited edition Space Dunk cookies. Photo: @kelliegerardi/Instagram

In September 2015, Gerardi tied the knot with Steven Baumruk, who also works in the aerospace industry. Their space-themed wedding took place in Woodstock, Vermont, and the happy couple even walked down the aisle to "The Imperial March" from Star Wars with Stormtroopers in tow, per British media.

Today, Gerrardi and Baumruk live in Jupiter, Florida, with their six-year-old daughter Delta Victoria, or Delta V for short.

Kellie Gerardi wants women to be themselves in space

Last November, Gerardi became the 677th human and 90th woman to travel to space. She said to Ergobaby, "It's the honour of a lifetime to be one of them, but now the real work begins: helping to blow open the door for commercial human space flight - because the limiter has always been access and not aptitude."

In an interview with Forbes in February, she said, "To think that I was one of the first 100 women in history to travel to space is mind-boggling."

At a time when Prada will be outfitting astronauts for the Nasa Artemis III 2025 mission, Gerardi insists that women should be unapologetically themselves in space, mixing their own fashion and personal style. Per Remix Mag, she said, "We don't need to tone down any aspect of our femininity or personality to be seen as more credible or professional in the workforce."

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