Kellie Gerardi wears a lot of hats. She’s a mother, a content creator (with 1.4 million followers on Instagram and just about 1 million followers on TikTok), an author… oh yeah, and the 90th woman ever to travel to space. As an astronaut and researcher, Gerardi is paving the way for women in aerospace — but that’s all in a day’s work, or, you know, at least part of it.
“Every day is really different,” Gerardi shares with Her Campus in an exclusive interview. “I love having a really full plate and I love the fact that I get to explore so many different passions in life, instead of feeling pigeonholed to just doing one thing or being seen as one thing.” Basically, Gerardi loves the hustle — which is a good thing, because the woman is booked and busy.
Next up on her radar is leading an all-female spaceflight in 2026, flying alongside Dr. Shawna Pandya, Canada’s fourth ever female astronaut, and Dr. Norah Patten, Ireland’s first ever astronaut. With aerospace still being a heavily male-dominated field, this upcoming project is “really special” to her — especially since it wasn’t originally planned as an all-female crew flight. “It just so happens that based on the research priorities for this mission that three women were selected,” she says. “I think that’s really special, especially in this current climate of this focus on merit and credibility. I do think it’s really important to underscore that I’m going to be flying with brilliant women who weren’t put on that crew for no reason.”
As one of the most well-known women astronauts in the world (see: her massive social media following), Gerardi has stepped up to the responsibility of representing women in aerospace with grace and enthusiasm. The internet has even dubbed her “astronaut Barbie,” which she loves. “It is literally the highest praise you could give,” she says. “I love it so much, as someone who grew up playing with Barbie dolls, and who had kept the 1994 astronaut Barbie doll in my collection, and grew up dreaming big dreams, and believing that I could do anything that I put my mind to and that all these possibilities were open to me.” This is a message conveyed often through her social media posts as well, proving to girls that femininity and intelligence are by no means mutually exclusive.
One of Gerardi’s most viral TikToks depicts her looking down at Earth from her spaceflight and whispering “Hi Delta” — a sweet shoutout to her young daughter back on Earth. She explains this moment encompasses the human aspect of spaceflight that many people overlook: While being an astronaut is a matter of science and academics, emotion plays a huge factor as well. “I think the one thing that nothing could have prepared me for was the emotional aspect of it,” she says, “Part of that is the unique aspect of being a mother in space. It’s just this entirely existential experience in that moment. It was such a beautiful thing, looking back at our home planet and feeling both a part of it and being slightly outside of it, like that cognitive dissonance — and then just the absolute surreal recognition in that moment that I was not on the same planet as my baby.”
Moments like these give Gerardi hope for the future of spaceflight, as she aims to be an example to girls of what they can achieve. While progress has been made to bring more women into the aerospace field (when Gerardi’s mom was growing up, women were not even eligible for space flight in the U.S.), there’s always room for more women scientists and researchers. Her advice? Find your passion and let that drive you. “My path to space literally didn’t exist before my research institute sent me,” she says.
Though much of Gerardi’s work is up in space, it keeps her grounded here on Earth, too. As a result of her space travel, she’s learned to not sweat the small stuff in life. Looking out at the universe and down on Earth has allowed her that unique perspective: “You take one look at an infinite universe and suddenly nothing feels that big or unsolvable in your own life.”