Australia’s first female astronaut shares wonders of space with youngsters

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Plenty of kids dreams of growing up to be Astronauts, but Katherine Bennell-Pegg has turned that into a reality. She has just finished training and is now Australia’s first female astronaut. Sharing the wonders of space with some young stargazers.

Transcript

00:00These wide-eyed would-be space explorers had plenty of questions for a real-life astronaut.

00:12Do you know what's on the other side of the moon? Who was your biggest inspiration?

00:16What would be the plan if you encountered aliens?

00:21I would hope that they're friendly so I can give them a high five and ask them about their trip to get to the moon.

00:26There was even a request for a moonwalk.

00:30Catherine Bennel-Pegg is the first Australian woman to become a qualified astronaut,

00:35graduating from European Space Agency training in April.

00:38She's now on a mission to promote the space industry and inspire young minds to have out-of-this-world dreams.

00:45You can see the power of space to ignite the fire in the mind of the next generation.

00:50I hope that I've unlocked this pathway for other Australians to follow in the future.

00:55Plenty of these kids are going home with stars and galaxies in their eyes after meeting their idol.

01:00But since Australia doesn't actually have a human spaceflight program yet,

01:04the odds of Catherine Bennel-Pegg or any of these youngsters actually going on a space mission in the future is far from guaranteed.

01:11The fledgling Australian space agency paid for the 39-year-old's training,

01:15but funding a seat on a private astronaut mission would cost tens of millions of dollars.

01:20That doesn't seem to have stopped her young fans from wanting to take one giant leap.

01:24Would you like to be an astronaut one day?

01:26Yeah. I'm very intrigued in science and chemistry.

01:31I'd like to go on adventures and exploring.

01:35I think I would like to just be floating around. It would be really fun.

01:39Just so I can explore space.

01:43Dreaming of infinity and beyond.

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