Dr Norah Patten is due to take part in a space mission in 2026, which will see her become Ireland’s first astronaut.

Patten is originally from Co. Mayo but now lives in Dublin and works for Realtra Space Systems Engineering in Coolock.

As a part of a team sent by the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS), the mission aims to advance scientific knowledge on supporting life in space and it follows on from a similar mission the Institute carried out last year.

Patten, along with two other researchers from the US and Canada, will undertake the mission on Virgin Galactic's second generation of spacecraft, known as Delta, during the first year of its operation.

The commercial space flight will be sub-orbital, meaning that it will travel to and from space without going around the earth, and will take less than two hours to complete.

The flights are being funded by institutional investors, grants and sponsors, and will be carried out by an all-woman team of researchers.

The cost of the flight on this new craft, which is still in development, has not yet been finalised but it is expected to be in the region of $600,000 (€560,000).

"The research spaceflight is a one-day suborbital spaceflight and from take-off to landing it's less than two hours," Patten said.

"But we'll be using every single moment of that to try and maximise the research outputs. I will be flying as a payload specialist, and I'll be testing a variety of experiments in space. "

She added: "This is a progression of the Institute's inaugural spaceflight, which took place with Virgin Galactic in 2023 testing fluids research and other biomedical research. So, our flight will advance the research findings from that first flight, and we'll also be taking new biomedical and physical sciences experiments on board."

In a social media post Patten said that she's had her sights set on space ever since she visited a NASA research centre in Cleveland Ohio on a family holiday to visit relatives.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dr. Norah Patten 🇮🇪 (@spacenorah)

The researcher also expressed her pride at becoming the first Irish astronaut on this mission.

"I don't feel any nervousness. I feel a huge sense of pride. I feel a huge sense of responsibility to my research institute to maximise our research,” she said. "But also as a national first, this is such an amazing opportunity to engage with people all over Ireland and to show them what's possible”

In a statement the IIAS said Dr Patten’s experience was key to her selection for the mission.

"Norah Patten has consistently demonstrated the teamwork, excellence, and expertise needed to produce high-quality, cutting-edge research in operational environments,” it said.

"The IIAS team will collaborate closely with academic, government, and commercial partners to carefully plan the crew's spaceflight activities to maximise the science and technology returns gained from this mission."