A quick note to say thank you for all the congratulations and encouragement over the last few days.
I’m filled with gratitude to so many of you for all the support this year.
Graduating as an astronaut is the start of an exciting new chapter for us all!
A trailblazing South Australian mum and now, the first person to graduate from astronaut training under the Australian flag.
Meet Katherine Bennell-Pegg who has just graduated as a fully qualified astronaut.
Touch down in Düsseldorf! 🛬
I’ve arrived in Germany, ready to start 👩🚀astronaut training with the
@esa
next week.
Some friends were at the airport to welcome me, along with a cute🚀sign their kids made for me.
"That Holden is up to something? Have you met that guy? He’s never done anything secretly in his life." - The Expanse.
Wishing Steven Strait, who plays James Holden from
#TheExpanse
the best first time (...yes really!) on a parabolic flight! ✈️🧑🚀
Working in the space industry means you work with people from around the 🌏, united by a common passion and drive. This is the forge many friendships are made of.
After a short break with my family in Europe, I'm looking forward to returning to training with my
@esa
classmates!
Achieving energy balance ⚖️ during long-term space flights is challenging & an important area of research.
I recently undertook a Resting Energy Expenditure test that will measure my oxygen consumption, and metabolism to help inform and prepare my meals during space missions.
A sensational opportunity to learn how to operate better in weightlessness.
Parabolic flights ✈️ are an important microgravity research platform, outreach & training platform for astronauts.
Loved sharing this experience with
@JAXA_en
ASCANs,
@esa
ASCANs & astronauts.
Space might just be the place where
@Vegemite
tastes EVEN better! (Hard to imagine, I know) 😉
Astronauts taste buds change in space, resulting in salty and spicy foods tasting better than they do here on Earth.
Which Aussie 🇦🇺 delicacy would you bring to the
@Space_Station
?
Happy International Day of Human Spaceflight 👩🚀
Celebrating big milestones on this day like the first flight of a person into space, and the inaugural flight of the Space Shuttle. &, importantly for my class and I, successfully finishing up our final exams.
Enjoy Yuri’s Night!
Capsules! Modules! Robots! My new happy place.. the
@NASA
Space Vehicle Mockup Facility.
It’s used for 👩🚀 training, systems familiarisation & houses mockups of the pressurised modules of the
@space_station
&
@NASA_Orion
.
Thanks to
@astro_luca
&
@Astro_Alex
for their insights.
All set up & ready for today's 👩🚀 graduation at
@esa
's European Astronaut Centre in Cologne.
Ready for an exciting day ahead...can't wait to celebrate with my classmates! 🎉
For those in 🇦🇺 the ceremony will be available to stream from 5.30pm ACST:
Very cool to see the skinsuit 👩🚀 developed by
@RMIT
and 🇦🇺 company Human Aerospace on display in the entrance hall of the European Astronaut Centre where I am training.
This project was funded through the
@AusSpaceAgency
and developed in collaboration with
@esa
I’m thrilled to be presenting at
@AndyThomasSpace
's 17th Australian Space Forum in Adelaide in July.
It will be my first Australian industry event following my return 🇦🇺 I look forward to sharing my story and the knowledge I've gained.
Register here:
A Sydney woman has cemented her place in history.
Katherine Bennell-Pegg has become the first person to ever be trained as an astronaut under the Australian flag.
She’s been dreaming of reaching space since she was a little girl.
🎧🎧
A big day with my fellow
@europeanspaceagency
ascans at our welcome media day, being interviewed by journalists from across Europe.
I’m so proud to be representing Australia on this stage, creating opportunities that will benefit our nation for years to come!
The first Hoppers have their missions!👏🚀
I am so thrilled for
@Soph_astro
and
@Raph_Astro
. They are phenomenal astronauts and even better people.
Sophie and Raphael, all the best for this great adventure! The rest of the class are all cheering you on.
Last week we visited the
@DLR_en
and
@esa
facilities in Oberpfaffenhofen 🇩🇪
Great chance to spend some time at the Columbus Control Centre “Col-CC” where we got to see first-hand how the teams operate - it really does take a village!
Katherine Bennell-Pegg has become the first person ever to graduate from the European Space Agency astronaut program under the Australian flag.
@AussieAstroKat
joins us to tell us all about the journey to finally realising her dream and whether she thinks aliens are real...
What a weekend! I travelled to Darmstadt with
@astro_matthias
&
@Astro_Rosemary
to watch the launch and initial ops of the
#Euclid
mission.
I can’t wait to see what discoveries are made, especially by 🇦🇺 scientists from
@uwanews
who will be some of the first to access the data.
From medical breakthroughs to combating climate change, many scientific discoveries are made in spacelabs that improve life on our beautiful planet🌏 I’m marking
#InternationalDayOfHumanSpaceflight
in the Columbus module training mockup👉
@esaspaceflight
European Astronaut Centre!
Dizzy with excitement after riding the human centrifuge at over 6G!
Couldn’t stop grinning despite the crushing force pancaking my face - a glimpse of what I’d look like during the real deal 😵💫
@esa
@esaspaceflight
How it started ⏩how it's going...
Can't believe these two 📷 were taken just 6 months apart.
Grateful for the journey so far, the friends I've made a long the way and the experiences that will no doubt last a lifetime. 🚀
Astronauts spend 2-3 hours each day, 6 days a week working out in space! On the
@Space_Station
there’s a treadmill, bike & weights machine. 🏋️♀️
We don’t need to be athletes, but we do need to be fit for space, training, recovery from flight, and to sustain long & healthy careers.
"To be an astronaut, better yet, an Australian astronaut is the culmination of a childhood dream and the amalgamation of my more adult dream to help grow the Australian space sector..." 👩🚀
✨A sore hand from signing and a sore face from smiling ✨
It was incredible to meet so many young Aussies at the world’s biggest
@LEGO_Group
store in Sydney this week. I’m excited to meet even more people over the next few months.
Awesome to experience Aussie 🇦🇺 space tech from
@raytracer_co
during my trip to the US.
With support from
@AusSpaceAgency
, Raytracer have developed ‘Titan Lake’ – an underwater VR training simulation for astronauts.
Despite what this pic may suggest, I can assure you that I'm not training for the upcoming
@LeTour
! 🚴♀️
This week I did a VO2max test at the
@DLR_en
flight clinic. Cardio fitness is affected by spaceflight and tests like these create important baselines for research.
My class and I are thrilled to be a step closer to EVA training, having recently received our full-face mask 🤿 surface supply diving system qualification for the
@esa
Neutral Buoyancy Facility!
Are you ready for your close up? 📸👩🚀
This week
@Soph_astro
,
@Astro_Pablo_A
and I learnt about photography and videography from
@esa
experts who work with the astronauts during their 🚀 missions.
Being an astronaut is a team sport.
For the past 2 weeks, we’ve had Human Behaviour & Performance training with Deep Blue - learning how to contribute, lead, build, and sustain better teams. It was great to be joined by Luca who shared valuable insights from his own 👨🚀 career.
Truly honoured & humbled to work as a mentor with my new
@esaspaceflight
colleagues for their Human Behaviour&Performance training. The best part: I gain at least as much knowledge as I transfer. Grateful for their time, amazed by their stature.
You’d better not be calling me old,
@Thom_astro
(that’s
@ESAastro_Marco
's job). 😊
It was super fun to fly and float with you and your crew today.
Maybe one day we’ll reach the ‘Space Olympics’ level...
@Astro_Pablo_A
, are you 🥱 yawning during Thomas’ power walk?
Plus d’astronautes à bord d’un avion que de la station ! 🧑🏻🚀C’est aujourd’hui chez Novespace 🛫🛬que beaucoup de mes jeunes collègues découvraient la sensation de flotter pour la première fois, à bord de l’Airbus 310 ZeroG… quelle responsabilité d’être aux commandes 😅! Tout le
We know that space is tough on the human body, and last week's training focussed on space medicine. 🩺
Led by
@esa
's Sergi Vaquer Araujo, we learnt about the systems of the body (using AR), how the body is affected by spaceflight and how to perform an ultrasound & ECG.
Felt on top of the 🌏 this week during our hypoxia & hypobaric chamber training.
👩🚀 train to recognise their personal & crewmates symptoms, so that they can quickly take action in an emergency.
I felt pretty good, but then forgot my 🏠 address..hypoxia can sneak up on you fast!
Very cool to see Aussie 🇦🇺 manufacturing tech in action when I visited
@Axiom_Space
.
Axiom use an industrial machine from Sydney-based, Aeronaut, that is critical in their next-gen spacesuit production, intended for use on the ISS, future commercial stations, Gateway & the Moon!
Back in the classroom last week for the first week of 2024 💫
Started our space systems engineering course, courtesy of
@Uni_Stuttgart
- flashback to 2007 in my days as a student in their space station design workshop!
Also delved into EU space policy with insightful learnings.
Bringing new meaning to the phrase 'under the sea' with last week's scuba diving experience!🤿
True weightlessness on spacewalks cannot be replicated on 🌏, but by immersing us underwater we get close to simulating the sensation of microgravity.
More:
An honour to meet with Australia's Ambassador to the US, the Hon Dr Kevin Rudd AC and the team at
@AusintheUS
in Washington DC 🇺🇸 today.
Great to speak at the Embassy's Women in Leadership event and share my journey. 🚀
The Embassy was honoured today to host a true trailblazer: Katherine Bennell-Pegg
@AussieAstroKat
is the first 🇦🇺 woman to be trained as an astronaut by an International Space Agency & the first person to train as an 👩🏼🚀 under the 🇦🇺 flag. An outstanding Aussie ambassador.
Couldn't resist a visit to the
@sciencemuseum
while on holiday with the family! 🇬🇧
It was awesome to see a Black Arrow, the same as the rockets 🚀 which used to launch from Woomera Test Site, and the engineering model of BepiColombo, which I worked on briefly as a grad engineer.
Riding the human centrifuge was such a rite-of-passage experience! 😊
Thanks to the Koninklijke Luchtmacht Centrum voor Mens en Luchtvaart and
@esa
for organising this critical part of my training.
They say you miss 🌿nature and the feeling of rain when on the
@Space_Station
...
Or at least that’s what I tell myself when running through the woods in the 🌧️ icy rain.
Just. Keep. Running 🏃♀️
Talk about a very happy coincidence..🚀
I bumped into someone with an Aussie accent during my recent trip to Houston. We got chatting, & I soon discovered there was a bunch of 🇦🇺 kids in town from CASE Space School.
Fantastic opportunity to chat to the students in person!
Great opportunity to build up some of our skills during last week's medical prac, where we learnt how to:
🪡 stitch wounds
💉draw blood
💧start an IV
Luckily for my classmates, these were all done on chicken 🍗 and medical dummies... for now!
It was all about a blast from the past on our astronomy and astrophysics courses. ✨
The night sky is what first piqued my interest in space, so I really enjoyed the opportunity to delve back into the theory again and learn of new discoveries!
📸
@nasa
Aussies abroad! 🚀
So great to welcome the 🇦🇺 delegation on their visit to ESA-European Astronaut Centre &
@DLR_en
to support their tech demos & help foster collaborations.
Thank you to all attendees and hosts
@esa
,
@esaspaceflight
&
@DLR_en
.
More:
Did you know there are 3 robotic arms on the outside of the
@Space_Station
? 🤖🦾
Just wrapped up an intense & enjoyable
@esa
basic training robotics ops module! With VR and sims, I’ve learnt how to operate the engineering marvel that is Canadarm2.
Back in the 👩🏫 classroom, and pleased to report that we’re now partway through the Surface Supplied Diving System (SSDS) certification having recently passed our theory tests ✅
The theory builds on our Neutral Buoyancy Facility 🤿 scuba certification.
What an inspiring visit to
@Thales_Alenia_S
! Thanks for the eye-opening journey through Cygnus, Axiom modules, Gateway’s Halo & Exomars!
Learning about these systems & getting to know the dedicated workforce that makes them possible is important to prepare for future missions.
Thanks to all who came out to Science Alive 2024 this weekend in Adelaide 🙏 Loved meeting so many young space enthusiasts who are reaching for the stars! 🌟🤩
Between lessons this week in 🇮🇹 Italy, we had fun walking up Mount Vesuvius.
💡 Fun fact: A volcano erupts about every 3 months on Earth – which means the chance of an astronaut seeing one one during a mission is pretty high!
Out for a run in the cold rain 🌧️ around pretty Siegburg.
My hands are still frozen ❄️ I think but gotta stay ready for fitness tests during 🚀 astronaut training.
A bit of culture shock from sunny and warm West Beach back home in 🌞 Adelaide.
The astronaut dream is a powerful one. 💫
Having a dream is a joy.
Happy International Women’s Day!
Thank you for this beautiful video
@AusSpaceAgency
and Shalom Almond.
To celebrate
#InternationalWomensDay
we’re shining a spotlight on our astronaut-in-training,
@AussieAstroKat
Our short doco, Into the Light, showcases the power of a dream and the determination and hard work that goes into making it a reality.
Explore:
Thanks
@astro_Pettit
for this awesome 📸 pic...how amazing would it be to see Australia from space?!
Something even more unattainable might be reaching the heights of Don's space photography skills. 😉
I guess it's time to get back to my basic training photography practise.
Melbourne, Australia at night.
This is a striking city from orbit. City lights at night are some of my favorite phenomena to capture from the
@Space_Station
, as everything from the layout of the streets to the color of the lights can reveal so much about the location & culture.
An inspiration to many 👩🚀👩🚀
Australia's first female astronaut, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, joined Luke Bradnam to discuss her journey to becoming an astronaut.
Hear the details:
Going back to the Moon🌙 will teach us so much about the Earth, including:
🌏its formation
🧬life’s origins
🌋the role of volcanic activity and of gases in our atmosphere, and much more.
During our geology lessons it’s been great to see 🇦🇺 research from
@Sydney_Uni
featured!
Great to visit Airbus DS in Stevenage UK recently, where I used to work as a grad engineer. I remember being so excited to meet UK
@esa
Astronaut Tim Peake when he visited! What a full circle moment. Thanks for having me! 🙏 Here's a vid
@AirbusSpace
made of a little coffee chat
Katherine Bennell-Pegg is Australia's first astronaut, and she tells us the strange saying they have about water on the International Space Station, and how space technology is being used every day on Earth.
In space, astronauts 👩🚀 are both scientists & their subjects.
So many experiments on the
@Space_Station
are creating breakthroughs for med sci & biotech, so we’re honing our biology know-how to best support researchers here on 🌏 Earth.
Thanks to
@DLR_en
for the training!
The final element of our survival training saw us return to land to channel our inner firefighter 🔥
We learnt how to:
👩🚒search smoke-filled rooms
🧯use firefighting equipment
🚒rescue injured personnel from heights & confined spaces
Australia's first astronaut is preparing for space, leading our country's push towards space. In her first interview since completing her training, Katherine Bennell-Pegg says the growing Australian space industry is transforming.
@hughwhitfeld
#7NEWS
With VR and AR simulations, 👩🚀 astronauts can practise their movements and learn how to perform complex operations in space.
At
@NASA_Johnson
this week, we delved into the
@Space_Station
's VR model, which included some attempts at operating the robotic arm 🦾 to capture Cygnus!
Incredibly proud to see 🇦🇺 involved in such a critical function of
@ESA_Euclid
mission.
Access to the first data from the spacecraft will mean Aussie 👩🔬 are @ the forefront of discovery, poised to answer fundamental questions about galaxy types & structures across our universe.
📡〰️🛰️
Acquisition of Signal (
#AOS
) for
#ESAEuclid
just reported from ESA’s 4.5 m-diameter dish at New Norcia, Australia.
Euclid is on its way to
#Lagrange
Point 2 (L2), 1.5 milion km away from Earth!
Nothing like a trip to the Baltic Sea to put your survival skills to the test.
We learnt how to:
⚓️ manage ourselves as a group in an emergency at sea
🛟 deploy & handle a life raft
🆘 use distress signals
A true team effort, and some laughs along the way! ☺️
A pleasure to chat with Dr Jeff Ayton, Chief Medical Officer at
@AusAntarctic
.
There are many similarities between working in Antarctica and space, and the importance of teamwork is critical to success in both environments.
Watch the interview in full:
🚀New
#Antarctic
expeditioners are getting lessons from space, with Australia’s first astronaut candidate 👩🚀
@AussieAstroKat
sharing tips on succeeding in extreme, confined & isolated environments.
More👉
@esa
@AusSpaceAgency
Winter survival training in the Pyrenees was one to remember! ❄️
Why the frosty temperatures? Astronauts train for spacecraft landings in remote areas & to survive in a variety of extreme conditions.
A great chance to advance our leadership & followership skills.
I’m about to hit the road for National Science Week [10-18 Aug] & look forward to spreading the word about space & STEM ✈️ TAS, VIC, ACT, NSW
If you’re in these locations, find out more about where to say hi 👉
We’ve been learning about reentry aerothermodynamics, including hypersonics.
It’s so important to get experiments, samples and people back to Earth!
Geeking out at the lab, as always, remains a highlight.
Happy New Year! Back to training today & excited to share my journey in what will be a stellar 2024.✨
There’ll be winter survival, space robotics quals, payload engineering, human spaceflight ops, language exams, microgravity familiarisation, health, fitness, graduation + more.
Really enjoyed sharing my journey at last week's
@Aus_ScienceWeek
webinar with the
@AusSpaceAgency
. ✨
The experience was made even more special with a Year 5 class from my old school joining from Sydney!
A copy of the webinar is now available:
So great to have John McFall, the world’s first astronaut with a disability join us at the EAC for key elements of the basic training. 🚀
He’ll work with experts to see how 👨🚀 roles can be more accessible, allowing for a wider range of people to qualify for human spaceflight.
A warm welcome to
@esa
's European Astronaut Centre, John!🧑🚀✨ We're excited to have another member of the
#ESAastro2022
class joining us. Your journey will be extraordinary & inspiring. Let's explore new frontiers together!
#FlyFeasibilityStudy
Meet John👉
Meet & greet 🇦🇺 astronaut
@AussieAstroKat
🚀 at the
@LEGO_Group
store in Pitt St, Sydney on 16 July.
You’ll get to meet and hear from Katherine about her inspiring journey to becoming an Australian astronaut.
In celebration of
@Aus_ScienceWeek
, you're invited to join us in conversation with
@AussieAstroKat
- the first Australian to be trained as an astronaut under our flag 🇦🇺
This online event will be held on 15 August at 2pm AEST:
It was wonderful to host an Australian delegation at the EAC over the weekend, with the group travelling to Germany for the
@InvictusGamesDE
Great opportunity to give an insight into my training. Human spaceflight offers so much opportunity for many sectors across 🇦🇺
Podcast alert 🎧 Tune in to our latest
#ESAExplores
episode with
@AussieAstroKat
from
@AusSpaceAgency
👩🚀🇦🇺
Hear about Katherine's training with
@esa
's astronaut candidates at the European Astronaut Centre 🇩🇪 and get ready for their graduation on Monday 🎓🎉
If you happen to pick up a copy of this month's
@vogueaustralia
, you might see a familiar face!
Proud to be able to show the opportunities for Australians in STEM and in space.
Out of this world to visit the place I started as a space engineering graduate -
@AirbusSpace
in the UK. So great to meet the Aussies kicking-goals there, drive the Mars rover, and speak with staff, students from
@CranfieldUni
, and local schools. Thanks for having me!
They did it, no (graduation) cap!
We are sending the 12 newest astronaut graduates an overwhelming amount of congratulations and support as they enter this new chapter. It’s an exciting time for space exploration and this is their moment! CONGRATULATIONS ASTRONAUTS!!
Fun times at the 17th
@AndyThomasSpace
🚀Space Forum! Encouraged to see the exciting projects on display at the Kids in Space Education Program😍with
@MakersEmpire
An important part of an astronaut's work is to support their nation's scientists as a test subject. I appreciated the opportunity to help advance this Aussie research recently at the European Astronaut Centre
@UC_RISE
@DrGWaddington
demonstrated his world-leading injury-prevention testing method on Australian astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg during a trip to the European Astronaut Centre. 🚀 🌏
#UniCBR
Did you know
@space_station
provides a vital view of 🌏?
👩🚀 capture stunning images from the cupola and they’re taken from external platforms too!
Grateful for insights on planetary defense, EO & launcher activities on our ESA ESRIN visit. Excited about collabs with 🇦🇺 orgs!