Australia offers astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg for space mission to International Space Station

The Australian federal government has extended an offer to the European Space Agency (ESA) to send Katherine Bennell-Pegg, the Australian of the Year, to the International Space Station (ISS) in a mission scheduled for 2028. If successful, Bennell-Pegg would become the first astronaut to fly to space under the Australian flag.

The ESA's offer for Bennell-Pegg to participate in a future ISS mission has received backing from philanthropists and the Australian space industry. However, the office of the Science Minister, Tim Ayres, has described the endeavor as "a very expensive undertaking" that cannot be funded by the government alone.

Ayres stated:

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"The government has been engaging extensively with the private sector, philanthropists, and other levels of government to raise funding to support a space flight – which is a significant cost."

He expressed gratitude towards philanthropists who have committed over $6 million in cash, along with in-kind support and some indicative backing from state governments.

Katherine Bennell-Pegg serves as the Director of Space Technology at the Australian Space Agency (ASA) and completed her astronaut training with the ESA in 2024. While she is not the first Australian astronaut, she is the first to qualify under the Australian flag. Previous astronauts like Dr. Andy Thomas and Paul Scully-Power flew to space as U.S. citizens on NASA missions. Additionally, Elaine Hyde, a dual citizen, took a suborbital flight aboard Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin NS-30 last year.