Katherine Bennell-Pegg: Australia’s first female astronaut sets her sights on the stars

Katherine Bennell-Pegg is The Right Stuff. As smart and daring as the Mercury astronauts celebrated in the Oscar-winning 1983 movie, Ms Bennell-Pegg has qualified as Australia’s first female astronaut.

The only thing now separating her from the stars is a mission to fire her into space.

Ms Bennell-Pegg, 39, was patient for the opportunity.

Only two Australian astronauts have previously crossed the Karman Line, 100km above the Earth’s surface, into the great void of space.

Fresh from graduating from an intense 13-month European Space Agency training program in Cologne, Germany, the mother-of-two is touring the country to champion the work of Australia’s fledgling space industry, whilst encouraging schoolchildren to make their own dreams a reality.

“After you do basic astronaut training and you become a qualified astronaut, you enter what’s called pre-mission assignment phase, which is where I am now, and that’s about maintaining your qualifications and your readiness,” she said.

As a dual UK citizen, she was eligible to apply to ESA’s new call for astronauts.

Out of 22,500 eligible applicants, she was one of only 25 people to successfully pass all selection stages. She’s now certified for assignment on long-duration missions to the International Space Station and beyond.

She was also the first person to train and qualify as an astronaut under the Australian flag. Throughout her training, she remained an employee of the Australian Space Agency, where she’s worked since the end of 2019.

Ms Bennell-Pegg, who holds four degrees across science, space and aeronautical engineering, had dreamed of becoming an astronaut since childhood.

“So many missions have caught my imagination,” she said. “Apollo 8 ... where humans first went around behind the moon and emerged on the other side and took the famous photo of the Earth rising from above the moon’s horizon.

“That (photo) is credited with fostering the environmental movement for much of the early 1970s and made humanity see itself as one (people) on one planet.

“I can’t wait to see humans go back to the moon not to walk, but to work and to learn more.”

In the meantime, her focus was sharing knowledge and insights and “inspiring the next generation into STEM fields, particularly young women.”

“I hope that my training and whatever comes next accelerates the opportunities for Australians to become more involved in human spaceflight, whether that be as researchers, as engineers, as educators and maybe one day Australian astronauts — there would be nothing that would make me prouder,” she said.

WA Museum Boola Bardip is hosting Ask an Astronaut with Ms Bennell-Pegg on Saturday.