Australia makes offer to ESA for Katherine Bennell-Pegg space flight

Bennell-Pegg completed her basic astronaut training in 2024 and, if the ESA bid is successful, is hoped to become the first formal Australian representative to fly to space.

“We have submitted a final bid to our friends in the European Space Agency,” according to reported comments from Science Minister Tim Ayres, obtained by the ABC.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to apply for this important project. It is an important opportunity. It does require careful fiscal management and making sure that we are balancing the fiscal pressures appropriately.”

A public and industry-led campaign was launched earlier this year to implore the Australian government to partner with the European Space Agency in sending Australian of the Year and astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg on the space mission.

That “Generational strategic and economic opportunity for Australia” campaign encourages Australia to support the imminent and unique opportunity for ESA-trained astronaut Bennell-Pegg to fly on an ESA mission.

Group Captain Bennell-Pegg has previously advocated for the Australian government to be daring in its space industry involvement and exploration, as a possible boost for national confidence.

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Bennell-Pegg, the first professional astronaut to officially represent Australia, made the comments during a supported by the Australasian Space Innovation Institute.

“Translating Australian talent, ideas and research into capability remains one of our greatest challenges. So today I also want to talk about daring. About aspiration. About national confidence,” Bennell-Pegg said in comments at a Ralph Slatyer Address on Science and Society in Canberra.

“(I want to talk) about the role space can play to help our people, ideas and industries reach further.

“In pursuing bold ideas and breakthroughs, that moment of instability that comes from a leap in the dark is necessary to move forward. We must be daring if we want to discover. To progress.

“The kind of daring I’m talking about is not recklessness. Nor ambition untethered from evidence. It is the courage to ask a basic question when we don’t know the answer. To challenge a long or widely held assumption. To attempt something never done before because it matters. It is comfort in sitting in uncertainty.

“It is the conviction to invest ahead of the curve in a capability whose full value we can’t yet predict. And sometimes, to decide that we are going to do something difficult simply because the act of trying will make us better for it.

“I think the courage to dare, to be resilient through challenging pursuits, comes from finding and fostering your awe. Not your ego.

“Awe is defined as experiencing something that moves you. Which gives you the imperative to change yourself and the world around you for the better.

“It’s being struck silent when you look out at the mountain on the horizon. The intake of breath when you lie on your back on the grass and look up at the stars. It’s that surge of childhood-like curiosity you get when you want to look under a rock or climb a tree. It’s witnessing someone achieve something great and feeling proud you contributed. Experiencing awe together in teams and across societies is shown to unify and foster positive bonds. It’s this feeling that has meant we humans have long been explorers and adventurers, travellers and trailblazers.

“We’ve chased the horizon in every direction. Climbed higher, descended deeper, gone further. And it’s this feeling that has driven humans to want to know more about our planet and to explore and understand our world. And also to explore and understand space.

“Science is what turns that awe into discovery. And research and development is what makes it practical for society.

“Here in Australia, we are a nation of practical dreamers. Looking up has never meant losing touch with the ground but finding our way forward.”

For more space news and insights, visit Space Connect.