Anima Patil-Sabale is an Indian born Software and Aerospace Engineer. She's currently working as Orion Spacecraft Simulations Engineer at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. She's a Scientist-Astronaut Candidate for two commercial spaceflight research projects during her off work hours.
Early life and education
Patil-Sabale was born in Jalgaon in Maharashtra, India. When she was seven she was inspired to become an astronaut, after seeing pictures of US and Russian astronauts and rocketships in books at a book exhibition at her school. She obtained her BSc in Physics in North Maharashtra University, India. She planned to apply to be a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force, despite the Indian Air Force not accepting females at that time, but she had to drop the idea as she didn't meet another criteria of having a perfect 20/20 vision. She decided that she did not want to do a MSc in Physics, but instead got her Masters in Computer Applications at the North Maharashtra University, India. It was here that she met her husband. After getting married and getting their degrees they worked for a software company in Mumbai. In March 2000 they moved to San Jose, California, where Patil-Sabale continued working in the software industry.
Career
While still working, she started a Masters in Aerospace Engineering at San Jose State University, which she finished in 2010. At this time she also had had her second son. In 2012 she was offered the job of Senior Principal Software Engineer in Operations Engineer at the Kepler mission, a position she held for 3.5 years. This same year she also became a US citizen, a prerequisite to her position at NASA. After the Kepler mission, Patil-Sabale worked as a Software Engineer in the Intelligent Systems Division at NASA Ames Research Center. Currently, she works in the human spaceflight program at NASA Johnson Space Center as an Orion Spacecraft Simulations Engineer. Patil-Sabale has been involved in a number of simulated missions. In 2014, she was selected for a four-month simulated Mars mission in Hawaii, but she could not attend. In 2015, she was the Commander for NASA's HERA : Human Exploration and Research Analog VII at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, a 14-day analog mission to an asteroid Geographos. Patil-Sabale graduated from the PoSSUM '' Scientist-Astronaut program in 2016. In 2017, Patil-Sabale became a Citizen Scientist-Astronaut candidate for the PHEnOM Project. In 2018, she was the Crew Commander of Crew 193 at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. She is furthermore a First Tier Support Engineer for Hi-SEAS, a Mars Analog Mission on Hawaii. She has participated in research missions. She flew 56 parabolas till now on a Falcon 20 aircraft wearing a spacesuit to test its performance. She spun in centrifuge and pulled 6G's as a part of a research study. She was in 6 inch headdown tilt position for eight hours on two separate days for NASA's Simulated Microgravity Fluid Loading Study
Public Engagement
She is a NASA Girls mentor and a NASA speaker. She is also a BoyScouts of America Assistant Scout Master, First Lego League robotics coach, a certified open water scuba diver, a student pilot
Recognition
Patil-Sabale won the 2017 Women of Influence Award.
