Dr. Norah Patten is a faculty member at the International Space University. Award winning and purpose driven, Norah is a staunch STEM advocate and regularly features on national television, radio and other media. An aeronautical engineer by background, Norah’s mission is to inspire the next generation of engineers, astronauts, scientists and innovators.

Norah currently works as a manager at the Irish Composites Centre. She is a graduate of the New Frontiers Entrepreneur Development Program. She was a recipient of the Emerging Space Leaders Grant and a Next Generation Plenary panellist at the International Astronautical Congress in 2015. Through a partnership with NanoRacks, Norah initiated and managed ‘The Only Way is Up’ project which launched Ireland’s first student experiment to the International Space Station in 2014.

Norah is a Scientist-Astronaut Candidate with Project PoSSUM (Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere) and has participated in multiple citizen science campaigns including microgravity research flights and spacesuit testing and evaluation. In October 2019, Norah will become a published children’s author with the release of her book called ‘Shooting for the Stars’, published by The O’Brien Press.
Norah participated in the International Space University Space Studies Program in 2010, holds a PhD in engineering and has industrial experience from The Boeing Company and Bell Labs Alcatel Lucent.