*Virgin Galactic’s inaugural private astronaut mission in August will feature a mother-daughter duo from the Caribbean.
Health and wellness coach Keisha Schahaff and her daughter Anastatia Mayers, 18, will travel to space after winning seats on Virgin Galactic’s second commercial flight in a prize draw, BBC reports.
They will become the first people from the Caribbean islands to travel to space. On Thursday (Aug. 10), the pair will depart from New Mexico.
“I filled out this sweepstake and then suddenly months later I’m getting correspondences saying that you’re a top 20 finalist, then a top five finalist, to becoming a winner,” Schahaff said about the competition.
Thursday morning, our anchor tenant sends its first private astronauts to space ????
First-time astronauts Jon Goodwin (????????), Keisha Schahaff (????????) & Anastatia Mayers (????????) are the #Galactic02 spacegoers!
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✅ Visit the VG homepage at 9:00 am MDT to tune in live pic.twitter.com/GTqENy0OOa— Spaceport America (@Spaceport_NM) August 7, 2023
“Suddenly, who’s walking into my yard? Richard Branson. The whole team just swarmed into my house saying ‘you’re the winner, you’re going to space’,” Schahaff shared.
Mayers’ decision to study in Scotland led to the opportunity to go to space.
“Had I not randomly chosen Aberdeen University and had we not had to take a massive detour to get my visa – we wouldn’t be going to space,” she said.
“I feel like a lot of things had to happen at very specific moments for us to end up here,” Mayers continued.
Schahaff entered the competition while on her way to the UK to sort out her daughter’s visa.
“When I was two years old, just looking up to the skies, I thought, ‘How can I get there?’ But, being from the Caribbean, I didn’t see how something like this would be possible,” Schahaff said in a news release. “The fact that I am here, the first to travel to space from Antigua, shows that space really is becoming more accessible.”
The second-year philosophy and physics student will be the second youngest person to go to space, and she hopes her journey inspires others.
“That would be very important to me, both in Scotland and Antigua and anywhere else I have any ties,” Mayers said, according to the BBC.
“My intention is to just break any barriers that we set for ourselves or that the world sets for us,” she said.
“I want people to know that it doesn’t matter where you come from, who you are – anything – your dream is your dream and you can make that happen, despite what anyone else says.”
Her mother added: “For me and my daughter together, it’s more than a dream come true.
“This is my kid, I love her with all my heart, and to know that we both share the same goal, the same dream, that is super over the moon,” Schahaff said.
The pair will be joined by Olympian Jon Goodwin from Newcastle, the second person with Parkinson’s to go to space.
READ MORE: Aerospace Engineer Aisha Bowe Secures Billion-Dollar Government Contract
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