Kellie Gerardi

Kellie Gerardi
Kellie Gerardi
Born (1989-02-16) February 16, 1989
Jupiter, Florida
Residence Washington, D.C.
Occupation Space Industry Professional
Children Delta V. Baumruk

Kellie Gerardi is a commercial spaceflight industry professional and popular science communicator. She is a Scientist-Astronaut candidate with Project PoSSUM, the first crewed suborbital research program to study the upper atmosphere and the role it plays in understanding our global climate[1]. She was previously one of 100 candidates selected to colonize Mars via Dutch non-profit Mars One.[2][3]

Career

Kellie Gerardi serves as the media specialist of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. Gerardi is also a member of The Explorers Club and serves on the Space Committee. In 2014 she became the youngest member to co-chair The Explorers Club Annual Dinner (ECAD). Gerardi co-chaired the 110th and 111th Explorers Club Annual Dinners, in which the Club honored space entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos[4], as well as scientific luminaries Stephen Hawking and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

In 2013, Gerardi was among 1,058 applicants selected as potential crew members for Mars One, a private company currently endeavoring to establish a human colony on Mars. In 2015, Gerardi was among 100 finalists selected.

Gerardi appeared on The View in 2013 to discuss the future of spaceflight. She led a 2014 industry study for DARPA, exploring the budgetary, technical, and programmatic components of the XS-1 program through a series of industry workshops. She later led business development for Masten Space Systems, a prime contractor on the program. She currently serves the company in an advisory capacity.

In 2015, Gerardi was named a "Rising Talent" by the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society, an international initiative aiming to distinguish talented young women on their way to becoming influential figures in global economies and societies. Gerardi was also shortlisted in the Kruger Cowne One Young World Rising Star Programme. In 2016 she was listed on the Center for Development and Strategy's Top 30 Under 30 Leaders of Tomorrow.[5]

In 2018, Gerardi was named as a Scientist-Astronaut Candidate with Project PoSSUM (Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere), the first crewed suborbital spaceflight research program[6]. The crew will study noctilucent clouds in the mesosphere, and their relation to global climate change[7].

Mars research

In February 2015, Gerardi joined an international research team for the 149th crew rotation at the Mars Desert Research Station, a prototype laboratory used by a variety of national space agencies to conduct analog Martian field research and simulate long-duration spaceflight. The seven researchers in Crew 149, including NASA and JAXA scientists, spent two weeks in isolation and performed a variety of scientific experiments, including a forced plant growth study and a survey of extremophiles and cyanobacteria in nearby lichen colonies.

Gerardi's crew notably proved root germination and growth of sorghum seeds and hops rhizomes in Martian regolith simulant, becoming the first team of researchers to prove the ability to produce beer on Mars.

Crew 149 also hosted English comedy television star Karl Pilkington as an honorary crew member, appearing in Season 2, Episode 6 of The Moaning of Life.

Personal life

Gerardi's 2015 wedding to Steven Baumruk was officiated by American astronaut and former International Space Station Commander Michael López-Alegría. The reception included a recorded dinner toast from NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (astronaut) aboard the International Space Station[8]. Gerardi and Baumruk live outside Washington, D.C.

References

  1. ↑ "Project PoSSUM :Citizen-Science Astronautics". Project PoSSUM. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  2. ↑ "Meet the Mars One Candidates". Popular Science. October 6, 2014.
  3. ↑ Angier, Natalie (December 8, 2014). "A One-Way Trip to Mars? Many Would Sign Up". The New York Times.
  4. ↑ "Inside the ultra-elite Explorers Club that counts Jeff Bezos, Buzz Aldrin, and James Cameron as members". Business Insider. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  5. ↑ "30 Under 30 Leaders". thinkcds.org. Center for Development and Strategy. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Kellie Gerardi on Instagram: "So very excited to be a part of the first crewed suborbital research program, studying our upper atmosphere and the role it plays in…"". Instagram. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  7. ↑ "Project PoSSUM :Citizen-Science Astronautics". Project PoSSUM. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  8. ↑ "Kellie Gerardi". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
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