Dr. Shawna Pandya is a scientist-astronaut candidate with Project PoSSUM, which stands for Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere, she is also a physician, a martial artist, an advanced diver, skydiver and pilot-in-training and an incredible speaker and presenter. She holds degrees in neuroscience, space, entrepreneurship and medicine, and she is currently completing a fellowship in Wilderness Medicine.

In 2015, Dr. Pandya completed Scientist-Astronaut Candidate training with Project PoSSUM and was part of the first crew to test a commercial spacesuit in zero-gravity. She has recently been named as an ambassador for the PoSSUM 13, an initiative to make space opportunities and engagement more accessible to students, particularly girls and young women.

Dr. Pandya’s adventures and experiences were recently captured in the Land Rover short, which was released with the Apollo 11: First Steps Edition film.