New Mexico woman headed to space
"Hey, are you sitting down?"
That's how New Mexican native and Virgin Galactic employee Jamila Gilbert learned she would become an astronaut, in a call from the president of Space Plane Missions, Mike Moses.
"I left the room and my husband saw the look on my face. And he just said, you're going to space," Gilbert said.
She grew up in Las Cruces, and when she leaves the planet, Gilbert will join a small group. Astronaut No. 7 will also be the seventh person to space from the Land of Enchantment. Gilbert will be just the second New Mexican woman to enter space, after Wally Funk, who flew with blue origin in 2021.
"So few people have ever had the opportunity to travel to space. So to be one of the first hundred women to make that journey, I think that it's that diversity as that perspective it is taking other folks that have never had the opportunity to go up," Gilbert said.
The New Mexico State University graduate describes herself as a Latina woman with Purépecha Mexican roots. Gilbert speaks four languages — but she isn't your typical astronaut.
"My background is also very artistic. I studied languages, I studied museum conservation and linguistics, anthropology, all things that are very left-brained, right?" Gilbert said. "I'm super excited to go and represent that group."
During the day, she is the senior internal communications manager at Virgin Galactic. To get ready for space, she says she's been going for runs, doing yoga, spending time in nature, and taking time to look at the stars.
"To get to experience this, test it out, evaluate it on behalf of our customers," Gilbert said, "it is just, is a dream."
Gilbert will be joined by first-time astronaut Christopher Huie, as well as astronaut instructors Beth Moses and Luke Mays. Unity will have experienced pilots for this final test flight.
If the flight goes according to plan, this will be the last test flight for Virgin Galactic.