In her small town of Palakollu, Andhra Pradesh, most dreams ended with an engineering degree. But she looked up at the moon and whispered I'm coming for you! Meet Jahnavi Dangeti, India’s rising space trailblazer, officially selected as an Astronaut Candidate for Titans Space’s inaugural orbital mission in 2029. Jahnavi was just 11 when she first heard about NASA. It was her grandmother’s bedtime stories that truly set her imagination in motion with tales that made the stars feel closer than ever. At 16, her school project was selected from over 2,000 entries at ISRO’s World Space Week. That win ignited a deeper curiosity. She learned astronauts trained in scuba diving to prepare for zero gravity. So, she began cycling 25 km to the nearest pool and soon became India’s youngest advanced scuba diver, mastering weightlessness in water long before she’d do it in space. Then came her first big leap! She was selected as the first Indian to attend a 10-day NASA student programme. As she stood at the gates of NASA, tears rolled down her cheeks — the sky was no longer the limit. In 2022, she was one of six selected for a 12-day analogue moon mission in Poland, simulating lunar conditions and testing human survival. “It wasn’t the real moon, but to the little girl inside me, it absolutely was,” she told SheThePeople. After being rejected once, she finally earned admission to the International Institute for Astronautical Science in Florida. There, a veteran astronaut who once flew with Kalpana Chawla told her: “Jahnavi, I see a little Kalpana in you.” And that’s when she knew — the moon was waiting. In 2029, Jahnavi will orbit Earth twice, float in 3 hours of zero gravity, and witness two sunrises and two sunsets — all in one breathtaking mission. From bedtime stories to space missions, from a small Andhra town to the stars, Jahnavi’s journey is proof that no dream is too distant when fueled by determination. @mystic_galaxia #womeninstem #space #chaseyourdreams #jahnavidangeti #isro #india #nasa #inspiration [Women Astronaut, Indian Astronaut, Andhra Pradesh, NASA, Women In Space, ISRO]