(Exclusive) Astronaut Reveals Reason She Wears Friendship Bracelets in Space — and Why She Won’t Stop

When the 35-year-old Jupiter, Florida, native, who’s also a huge Taylor Swift fan, learned she was heading to space on the Galactic 05 research mission in November 2023, during the height of the Eras Tour, she was determined to bring her authentic self along.

That’s when she had an idea: to bring friendship bracelets with her into space.

“I was only the 90th woman in history to fly to space,” Gerardi, who studied at the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences and became a bioastronautics researcher, tells PEOPLE exclusively.

“It became very important to me not to tone down my personality or femininity in an attempt to conform to society’s expectations of what a space professional should look like — instead, I wanted to expand that image to include me,” she adds.

“At the end of the day, conducting science in space with a wrist full of friendship bracelets was the perfect way for me to embrace those complexities,” continues Gerardi, who is also a mom to 6-year-old daughter Delta V.