The federal government has formally offered astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg - yes, she's also Australian of the Year, because apparently one impossible job wasn't enough - to the European Space Agency (ESA) for a mission to the International Space Station. The flight is slated for 2028 and would mark the first time a qualified astronaut has flown under the Australian flag. So, you know, no pressure.
The ESA offer for Bennell-Pegg to join a future ISS mission garnered support from philanthropists and the Australian space industry, but the office of science minister Tim Ayres had previously described it as "a very expensive undertaking" that no government alone could fund. In other words: space is cool, but the invoice is not.
Announcing the decision on Friday, Ayres said: "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. We are grateful to the philanthropists who have committed over $6m in cash, plus in-kind support, and some indicative support from some state governments." Translation: we passed the hat around and it came back heavier than expected.
Bennell-Pegg is director of space technology at the Australian Space Agency (ASA) and completed astronaut training with the ESA in 2024. She is not the first Australian astronaut, but she is the first to qualify under the Australian flag. Dr Andy Thomas and Paul Scully-Power, both Australian-born, went to space as US citizens on NASA missions. Elaine Hyde, a dual Australian and US citizen, last year took a suborbital flight aboard Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin NS-30. So Australia has technically been to space before - just not with its own branding.
In May, the ASA announced it had entered into "treaty-level discussions" with the ESA, which "would establish a formal framework for enhanced cooperation between Australia and Europe." In August, Ayres and assistant science minister Andrew Charlton wrote to state and territory leaders asking them to "partner" with the federal government to fund the mission. The letter, according to The Australian, described it as a "complete Australian mission that includes locally developed experiments and technology." Nothing says national pride like a group chat about who's chipping in.
South Australia, where the ASA is headquartered, has publicly committed to supporting Bennell-Pegg's space bid. Premier Peter Malinauskus said: "South Australia stands ready to partner with the commonwealth in what should be a national endeavour. Katherine Bennell-Pegg has the potential to inspire a new generation to dream big and address the single biggest challenge to our economy which is productivity. Australia has a massive shortage of young people taking up the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths, and we need more of it if we're going to grow the nation's productivity … Nothing would motivate young people more to take up these fields of endeavour than seeing Australia's first ever flagged astronaut in space." So the pitch is: fund a rocket, fix the STEM pipeline. Economists, please advise.
A campaign to secure Bennell-Pegg's spaceflight mission was supported by entrepreneurs Dick Smith and Jim Whalley - who had each pledged $1m funding for the mission - and former prime minister Kevin Rudd, who said on social media that the "project makes long-term economic sense for Australia beyond the usual sensibilities of the Treasury bean counters." Ah, the classic "bean counters" defense: deployed whenever a spreadsheet says no but a photo op says yes.
Richard de Grijs, a professor of physics and astronomy at Macquarie University, said of Bennell-Pegg: "She is qualified, she has undergone significant training, so she is set to go up if a suitable mission can be found. The government has actually contributed quite a lot of money to that education already." The ASA paid $466,000 for Bennell-Pegg to complete her astronaut training at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. "There is an inspirational value in sending a citizen from your country to space who is also the Australian of the Year … but the question is, is that worth $100m?" De Grijs said. "It's a lot of money, but on the other hand, it might actually lead to returns that are way more than the estimated number." Spoken like a man who has seen a grant proposal or two.
De Grijs pointed out that Australia was also involved in "inspirational spaceflight" by another means: an Australian-built lunar rover, named Roo-ver, will be sent to the moon on a NASA mission in 2030. Because if you can't send a person, send a robot with a name that sounds like a breakfast cereal mascot.
Darin Lovett, chair of the Space Industry Association of Australia, said the industry had "a strong track record of return on investment." "For around $100m, less than the price of a single coffee for every Australian adult, this is not a ticket to space. It is a down payment on Australia's future in one of the defining industries of this century." Finally, a budget line item we can all understand: it's cheaper than a flat white, and arguably more caffeinated.
In a speech Bennell-Pegg delivered earlier this month, she described space as "a gateway - a lure - into the full breadth of STEM fields. Especially for those that dream of going up there." And who could argue with that? Well, the Treasury bean counters, probably.