Counting Down to the Eclipse with Astronaut Kellie Gerardi and a Brand New Launch

As we spend the weekend inputting our location to NASA’s website to see exactly when Monday’s eclipse will pass overhead and setting aside stacks of protective glasses , astronaut and researcher Kellie Gerardi has more excitement in store.

A partnership with SunChips featuring a new limited edition flavor mashup in honor of solar eclipse 2024. “I was so excited when SunChips reached out about this particular campaign,” Gerardi told me when we chatted last week, “because my platform is all about harnessing my enthusiasm for space and science and sharing it with as many people as possible.”

“So to have a brand like SunChips recognize a societal inflection point like this eclipse,” Gerardi continued, “and go 110% to create a fun and engaging campaign around it, just energizes me so much. It was an immediate yes for me.”

This makes perfect sense if you know Kellie Gerardi, and fortunately être does. Featured in our first book être: Girls, Who Do You Want To Be, Gerardi has been a STEM role model and mentor for our girls for years.

We watched as she became a bioastronautics researcher with IIAS, led Mission Operations for Palantir Technologies, authored the children’s book series LUNA MUNA , started a space-themed fashion line, and then became one of the first 100 women to fly to space, serving as a payload specialist on the Galactic 05 research mission with Virgin Galactic.

So when we heard that Kellie was celebrating the April 8th eclipse with a new partnership launch, we had to know more. Below is an edited version of my conversation with Kellie Gerardi, posing questions from être girls about a historic event just days away:

ê: We’re so excited to be talking to you before the upcoming eclipse, particularly because it’s something we can all experience together. Who will you be watching with and what are you most excited about?

KG: You’re exactly right – an event like this can and should be enjoyed together; it’s really going to be an inter-generational type of viewing event! In fact, I’m bringing three generations of women in my family together: my mom, myself, and my daughter. We’re all traveling to be there in the path of totality, to experience the eclipse together.

ê: With SunChips, of course!

KG: Of course! You can’t do SunChips without the sun, right? So, they created this limited-edition flavor - pineapple habanero for the sun and black bean spicy gouda for the moon - that will only be available online during the four minutes and 27 seconds of the eclipse. It’s a fun, modern example of communicating science in an engaging way – I’m grateful to get to be part of it.

ê: We love it! Can you talk a little bit about why this eclipse is different from others we have viewed in the past? And why will won’t see anything like this again for a long time?

KG: Absolutely. This is a rare eclipse in that it’s a solar eclipse in the path of totality, which means when the moon’s shadow is completely eclipsing the sunlight across more than a dozen states in the United States. We won’t see another example of this type of eclipse until 2044 – so if it is at all possible for you to be in the path of totality, it’s going to be worth it.

ê: Any viewing tips and tricks we should know about?

KG: Definitely! NASA has a great list of cities that will be directly in the path of totality, and another tip is to make sure that you have special solar eclipse glasses. You never want to look at the sun without protective eyewear, so always look for ISO standards on your glasses to make sure they meet NASA’s criteria.

Finally, and this is important: Be in the moment. Stop and look around at other people’s reactions. I can’t wait to see my mother and my daughter’s reactions – it’s going to be so special to share those four minutes with them. Be fully engaged when the eclipse actually happens.

ê: Love that. Our final question comes from another STEM girl: Is there one piece of advice that you wish you had heard earlier? Anything you want girls our age to remember?

KG: One thing that I think is an important point, that I reflect on now as a parent, is that you don’t need to be perfect. Having a big dream doesn’t require perfection. It requires resilience…but not every decision you make needs to be exactly on course and perfect.

Have enough self-confidence to believe you are capable. It’s about competence and hard work. And if you are resilient, you can create a new door or another path for yourself anytime. - Kellie Gerardi

Gerardi’s words could not have landed on a more perfect note. With new être research about STEM confidence in hand and a momentous solar eclipse on the horizon, girls’ dreams feel more unlimited than ever.

“The universe is so much bigger than we can imagine,” concluded Gerardi, “and everyone can find their place in space.”

Women who have flown to space know it.

Brands looking to engage fans in the moment know it.

And on Monday afternoon, with heads thrown back and their eyes safely fixed on the skies, girls will know it too.

Looking forward and upward,

Illana

êXTRAS: Three links related to the eclipse and this partnership launch you won’t want to miss: to claim your limited-edition bag of Solar Eclipse SunChips, click here starting at 1:33pm CT; to engage with Gerardi and SunChips before and after the eclipse, tag them and use #TEAMSUN; and to keep following Kellie and her daughter Delta’s space-themed adventures, head here .