Anastatia Mayers - Astronaut 013

Anastatia Mayers is an 18-year-old philosophy and physics student at Aberdeen University in the United Kingdom. Driven by a passion for the sciences, Anastatia was drawn to the mix her degree offers.

It was on this basis that her mother, Keisha Schahaff, elected Anastatia to accompany her on her spaceflight. Both Antiguan-born and raised, Keisha and Ana are set to become the first astronauts from Antigua & Barbuda and the first mother and daughter duo to fly to space.

In a quirk of fate, Anastatia will become the second astronaut to hail from the University of Aberdeen. Brian Binnie grew up in Aberdeen in the 1950s while his father taught physics, and Brian went on to receive an honorary degree from the university. In 2004 Brian piloted SpaceShipOne to space and won the Ansari X Prize – which launched the start of Virgin Galactic!

“Philosophy and physics make an interesting combination, but it expresses both my love for science and my curiosity about how the world works.”