Sheila Xu

Sheila Xu is a pilot, researcher, and advocate committed to making human exploration accessible to all. As the first Deaf Asian female pilot and one of the first Deaf participants in a commercial analog astronaut program, she is redefining who belongs in the cockpit and beyond. Her call sign is "Cool," earned after surviving an emergency plane landing.

Sheila serves as Director of Development and Ambassador at AstroAccess, a nonprofit advancing disability inclusion in the space sector. She has conducted experiments on a zero-gravity parabolic flight and participated in the first documented use of sign language between two Deaf people in spacesuits during a pressurized spacesuit training program at Biosphere 2. Her research focuses on multimodal communication systems in human exploration, treating sensory differences as assets rather than obstacles in high-stakes environments. She believes that by "designing for the margins," we enhance mission safety, efficiency, and success for every explorer.

As a Deaf advocate, Sheila brings her lived experience to the highest levels of the global space community, including as a 2026 Space Generation Fusion Forum delegate. She leads initiatives that advance accessibility policy and practice across the space and aviation sectors. Her expertise has been featured at NPR, SXSW, Comcast, and the Library of Congress.

She holds master's degrees in public policy and business administration from Harvard Kennedy School and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Science from MIT. Under her leadership, AstroAccess was named a finalist for the Global Space Awards in 2025 for its work to make Blue Origin's New Shepard accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing astronauts.

An advocate for the leadership potential of the deaf and disabled communities, she believes these communities are sources of innovation. Sheila is architecting an inclusive future for humanity in space and on Earth.