Astronauts will be sent up in suborbital flights to study the clouds. (Representational photo)
An Indian-origin doctor in Canada is training for a scientist-astronaut project that may give her the chance to conduct experiments in space.
Shawna Pandya, a doctor in Edmonton, along with ten other candidates from Canada, the US and Spain, spent a week training in Project PoSSUM's (Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere) far-out Scientist-Astronaut Course at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the US.
The medical doctor wore spacesuits, rode on aerobatic flights and experienced changing gravity environments as part of the training.
"Since I was a kid, I loved space, I loved the stars. So this kind of is a realisation of a life-long dream," Dr Pandya told 'Edmonton Sun'.
The training aims to familiarise candidates with conditions that exist around noctilucent clouds, which are thought to be increasing in the upper mesosphere as a result of climate change. Astronauts will be sent up in suborbital flights to study the clouds.
"The point is to raise awareness of upper atmospheric science, and then also to get a pool of candidates going for when suborbital flights start launching, either in 2017 or early 2018," Dr Pandya said, adding that she would love to be part of such a mission.
Dr Pandya has completed her Masters in Space Studies at the International Space University and worked at both the European Astronaut Centre and NASA's Johnson Space Centre.
Dr Pandya will head to Ottawa next week to complete spacesuit training and testing in zero-gravity.