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