Caribbean women to become first mother-daughter duo to go to space together

Anastatia Mayers, an 18-year-old student at Aberdeen University and her motherKeisha Schahaff will become the first mother-daughter duo to go to space after they were selected for a place onRichard Branson's exploration company Virgin Galactic's second commercial flight in a prize draw.

Schahaff was travelling from Antigua to the UK aboard a Virgin Atlantic flight when she saw an ad about the competition. Curious about the prize,Schahaff entered the competition without any expectation of becoming the winner.

"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 was quoted as saying by BBC.

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"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 said her daughter Anna looked at her and said she should be coming with her when the organisers asked who would join her in the space expedition.

"Anna looked at me and she says, mum if anyone's going to space with you it should be me."

Mayers said her decision to travel from the Caribbean to the UK to study at the Scottish university may have 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.

Mayers is currently studyingphilosophy and physics at the University of Aberdeen and said she was fortunate to have been given the opportunity.

"There's so many other people like me who want to do something involving space and don't think they have the opportunity to do that," she said.

"I'm proud to be part of this mission and how it will expand access for more people."

The space flight

TheVirgin Galactic 02 flight is scheduled to take off on Thursday (August 10) from New Mexico. It will be the second commercial flight by the company after the first took off in June and reached an altitude of about 85 kilometres.

Alongside the mother-daughter duo,Jon Goodwin, a former Olympic canoeist will also be joining the crew. He will also become the second person to go to space with Parkinson's disease.

Watch |Virgin Galactic sends first paying customers to the edge of space

NASA and the USAir Force both define an astronaut as anyone who has flown 50 miles (80 km) high or more.

Virgin Galactic has said it has already booked a backlog of some 800 customers, charging most from $250,000 to $450,000 per seat, and envisions eventually building a large enough fleet to accommodate 400 flights annually.

(With inputs from agencies)

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