Mayo woman set to become Ireland’s first astronaut

Ballina native Dr Norah Patten is set to take part in a 2026 space mission.

The Mayo woman is part of an all female team being sent by the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) to advance scientific knowledge on supporting life in space.

The project is a follow on from a similar mission carried out by the institute last year.

Speaking to The Mayo News back in 2017, Dr Patten had just completed a unique scientist-astronaut training programme at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, which she described as ‘brilliant’.

“I’m already looking at their schedule for next year, and I want to go back as soon as I can, really… I’m only after coming back, and I’m itching to go again,” she said.

The daughter of Achill and Belmullet natives shared that it was her dream to go to space, something that is coming true now, several years later.

Dr Patten, as well as another pair of researchers from the US and Canada, will undertake the mission on Virgin Galactic’s second generation of spacecraft, ‘Delta’. 

The estimated $600,000 sub-orbital flight is funded by institutional investors, grants and sponsors, who are using the mission to advance knowledge in the areas of fluids and biomedical research in space.

Dr Patten’s love for space began when she was just eleven years old.

She explained to The Mayo News that her passion came after she visited NASA in Cleveland, Ohio.

“I think it was the spark for me. Then when I visited the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida when I was 15, it was a real ‘Oh my God’ moment.

“Definitely since I was eleven after seeing all the aircraft and the wind tunnels, it left me fascinated with space. But then when I saw the actual rockets at Kennedy Space Centre, that was it, I said that there was absolutely nothing else I wanted to do,” she shared.