Dr. Shawna Pandya is the first named female commercial Canadian astronaut, and will be flying to space with the Virgin Galactic Delta class of spacecraft with the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) as early as 2026.

She is also an emergency and aeromedical transport physician and aquanaut. Dr. Pandya was on the first crew to test a commercial spacesuit in zero-gravity in 2015. She earned her aquanaut designation on the 2019 NEPTUNE (Nautical Experiments in Physiology, Technology and Underwater Exploration) mission, and completed a second aquanaut mission, NEP2NE, in May 2023, for a total of 11 days, 10 nights underwater.

In 2022, Dr. Pandya was named one of the Explorers’ Club’s “50 Explorers Changing the World.” Her work has been profiled by Nature Careers and the Royal Canadian Mint.