Mayo woman Norah Patten isn’t an astronaut, and Ireland has never had a citizen in space.  Yet.  All that is due to change next year when Patten and two colleagues from the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) go up in a Virgin Galactic spaceship. As a so-called “named astronaut” (the technical term), Patten is part of the new wave of space opportunities being driven by commercial operators.  This will be the second IIAS research space flight with Virgin Galactic. Since the IIAS’ first space flight, on the Unity in November 2023, Virgin has decided to retire the craft and…

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