Kavya K. Manyapu is an Indian–American aerospace engineer and scientist. She currently works at NASA in the Extravehicular Branch for Lunar Exploration missions (Artemis Program) within the Flight Operations Directorate at JSC. She was part of the
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...
team for nearly 10 years that developed the
CST-100 Starliner
The Boeing CST-100 Starliner is a class of two partially
spacecraft. She developed a fabric for self-cleaning space suits that uses carbon nanotubes to repel dust for use in future lunar and Mars missions.
Early life and career
Manyapu grew up in
Hyderabad, India
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the '' de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern In ...
astronautics
Astronautics (or cosmonautics) is the theory and practice of travel beyond Earth's atmosphere into outer space. Spaceflight is one of its main applications and space science its overarching field.
The term ''astronautics'' (originally ''astron ...
from
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
in 2010. She also holds a diploma in performing arts from
Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University
The Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University (PSTU) is one of the few Indian language universities in India.
University
It was established as "Telugu University" on 2 December 1985 through an Act of Legislation (Act No. 27 of 1985) by the State Legi ...
. She served as a crew member on multiple Analog/simulated Mars Missions. She joined Boeing in 2010, where she has been working on the
CST-100 Starliner
The Boeing CST-100 Starliner is a class of two partially
, a spacecraft that would transport crew to the
ISS
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (J ...
. She held multiple roles in this project, including Spacesuit Integration Lead, Flight Test Engineer, Flight Crew Operations and Flight Test Director.
She received her PhD in 2017 under the supervision of Pablo de León, becoming the first ever PhD graduate in space studies at the
University of North Dakota
The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of N ...
. During her PhD, she developed patented novel technology, a smart fabric for planetary space suits to address the problem of lunar dust that proved to be a major issue during Apollo missions. The fabric contains carbon nanotubes, which repel dust when an electric current is applied to them. She holds five patents on this technology. Early-generation pieces of this fabric were launched into space for testing in April 2019 Manyapu became an Adjunct Professor of the Space Studies Department at the
University of North Dakota
The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of N ...
in 2019.
Manyapu is a certified scuba diver and has a pilot's license.
Manyapu has received a number of awards for her work. In 2014, she received the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Stellar Award. In 2016, she was one of nine people who won a Future Space Leader award. She was listed in 40 under 40 by Georgia State University in 2020