Australian of the Year Katherine Bennell-Pegg on blazing a trail for our space program, the trolls who questioned the honour, and closing her industry\u2019s gender gap.<\/p>\n
Stellar: This is the first in-depth interview you\u2019ve done since being named Australian of the Year in January. Has the news sunk in yet?<\/p>\n
Katherine Bennell-Pegg: I\u2019m still as stunned as I was when my name was called out on stage on January 25, but it\u2019s an incredible honour and it\u2019s humbling and motivating. There were so many incredible finalists in that room and any one of us would have cheered on whoever was called to the stage. I encourage everyone to get on the Australian of the Year website and have a look at what they do. You\u2019ll be so inspired. <\/p>\n
Listen to the full interview on Something To Talk About below: <\/p>\n
Stellar: You\u2019re the first astronaut to officially represent Australia and the first Australian woman to receive professional astronaut wings. Which moment felt more surreal: qualifying as an astronaut or being named Australian of the Year?<\/p>\n
Katherine Bennell-Pegg: Both are huge personally, but very, very different. Becoming an astronaut was a lifelong dream, something I\u2019d hoped for but knew was very unlikely. I wanted to do my best in case the situation ever arose, and it did, but graduating as an astronaut is just the beginning.<\/p>\n
Becoming Australian of the Year wasn\u2019t something that was ever on my radar. It was one of the school mums, I found out, that nominated me \u2013 and it was such an honour. It\u2019s been such an incredible journey and it\u2019s really made me reflect on what it means to represent Australia. We\u2019re so fortunate to live and grow and work on this country, and this makes me more determined than ever to use my platform to give back to the community. <\/p>\n
Stellar: After your win there was some criticism online about how you shouldn\u2019t have received the award because you haven\u2019t been to space yet. How did that sort of commentary make you feel?<\/p>\n
Katherine Bennell-Pegg: While it washes off me personally, it can be damaging for young people hearing it if they\u2019re paying attention to it. It was disappointing. As women, we have to use so much energy up on considering and advocating for our gender, in addition to getting the job done. I found that while it\u2019s important to do that, and I\u2019m happy to do it, I have to limit the amount of time I spend on it because I have a job to do. <\/p>\n
I can\u2019t help the fact that I haven\u2019t been to space. I didn\u2019t nominate myself for Australian of the Year. But you know what? I\u2019m going to use the platform gratefully, because it\u2019s an important one to showcase. It\u2019s easy to get caught up with the loud minority rather than focusing on getting the job done. <\/p>\n
Stellar: You\u2019re one of only 100 space-ready astronauts globally. How realistic is it that you\u2019ll ever get to go to space?<\/p>\n
Katherine Bennell-Pegg: I\u2019m in the unusual situation of being an astronaut in a country without a human spaceflight program, so my focus right now is really here on the ground, making sure I remain as match fit as I can should an opportunity arise. It would be a decision for Australia, should Australia choose to take that. <\/p>\n
Being an astronaut is a life of uncertainty, regardless of whether a mission is planned for you right away or not. It\u2019s uncertainty in the selection process, the training, if you\u2019ll pass, when your mission will be, what happens in space. So you\u2019re selected for your ability to handle uncertainty, and then trained further on how to be resilient and perform through it. So I just see my situation as like another layer of the onion, the uncertainty onion, that is the life of an astronaut. <\/p>\n
Should the opportunity ever arise, of course it would be incredible to have the chance to represent Australia in space. Many people think that I\u2019ve already been to space, and I\u2019m like, \u201cOh no, you wouldn\u2019t have missed it.\u201d Because it ignites a nation when someone goes up to space with [specialised equipment] into every technical field, and experiments that reach into the heart of every classroom. <\/p>\n
Listen to the full episode below: <\/p>\n
In April last year, pop star Katy Perry and journalist Gayle King, along with four other women, joined a Blue Origin rocket and went to space for 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
It was the first all-female flight crew in more than six decades, but the flight received a lot of backlash, with people calling it a vanity project for celebrities and a waste of money in the midst of a cost of living crisis. What are your thoughts on it?<\/p>\n
A lot of the women on that crew, they\u2019re not professional astronauts, but they\u2019re successful in their own right. I think that in itself sends a message. I\u2019ve grown pretty thick skin. People can call me what they want. I\u2019m busy being an astronaut; I won\u2019t be calling them back. <\/p>\n
You have to learn to put your shield up when you\u2019re in a public position so that you don\u2019t absorb too much of the good as well as too much of the bad, because otherwise you can be prone to narcissism or leave yourself vulnerable. You have to find your own steady centre. So I think that when women get to a position in which they are visible, we have a duty to help show that it is possible to get there, and that the journey to get there is worth it. <\/p>\n
Today is International Women\u2019s Day. I imagine there have been plenty of times when you have been the only woman in the room. Have you seen much progress in this area throughout your career?<\/p>\n
For most of my career I\u2019ve been the only woman in the room, to the point that I stopped noticing. I first realised that I didn\u2019t fit the stereotype when I went to university. I enrolled in an engineering degree because it had the word \u201cspace\u201d in the title, but I\u2019d never used a drill or written a line of code. The boys in the class didn\u2019t want to be in the group projects with the girls because they thought we didn\u2019t know how to use the drill. In my case I didn\u2019t, but I sure figured it out quickly. <\/p>\n
Early in your career when you\u2019re not yet confident in yourself and you\u2019re underestimated, it\u2019s really undermining. As I developed as an engineer, I grew more confident, and it became less of an issue. When I came back to Australia [after living overseas], about six years ago, to work at the Australian Space Agency, it was the first time I\u2019d had a woman as a boss. I also saw there were a number of women in senior positions in the Australian space industry, and that gave me hope that we have the chance to grow our space industry in a more diverse way than I\u2019d seen overseas. <\/p>\n
I would say, though, that when it was announced I was going to train to become an astronaut, a lot of young women at [the nearby] Adelaide University came to speak to me, and it made me realise the challenges are still there. They\u2019re going through the same challenges I did when I was younger. <\/p>\n
You met your husband Campbell Pegg, a fellow spacecraft systems engineer, when you were both at university. How do you navigate having such big careers and your family life with your daughters, Clara, 9, and Hazel, 7?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s actually been an advantage that we\u2019re in the same field. When we started out, we were on similar salaries, and when we had kids we took turns taking time off. We\u2019ve been able to share that juggle in a way that has meant both of us have been able to move forward with what we do. <\/p>\n
There are actually a lot of space couples here and around the world because the industry is such a bubble. We both worked at the Australian Space Agency at one point, and we\u2019d find ourselves up at 2am brainstorming requirements for a robot on a whiteboard, or negotiating deals with NASA while throwing snacks at our kids off screen. <\/p>\n
Twelve months from now, as you\u2019re reflecting on your time as Australian of the Year, what would be your biggest hope of the impact and the legacy that your reign might leave behind?<\/p>\n
Seven out of 10 primary-age kids in Australia say they would go to space if they could. I want each of those kids to know that no matter where they come from, no matter what their background or gender is, if they\u2019re willing to give it a red-hot go, then there\u2019s no insurmountable reason why they can\u2019t pursue their dreams in space or STEM or to be an astronaut, or whatever they wish to pursue. <\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been out and about across the country and I\u2019m going to get out even more this year with this wonderful platform. And I can tell you that talent and curiosity are everywhere. Aspiration isn\u2019t, because opportunity isn\u2019t. So I want to help change that. Right now we\u2019re seeing the lowest ever enrolments in Year 12 maths and physics. We\u2019re seeing gender gaps open early and persist through high school and again at university. <\/p>\n
I want to start to move the needle on that, and for everyone to be able to see themselves in this future. In order to do that, we need to have a robust conversation about space in this country. We\u2019ve never really done that \u2013 about what it means, what its purpose is. It\u2019s not about going up there to take a selfie or to launch a suitcase of cash and a rocket to blow up above the atmosphere. It\u2019s about supporting everything here on Earth. The work you do up there makes breakthroughs for life down here. So there are lots of things I\u2019d like to see by the end of the year. I look forward to working to deliver them.<\/p>\n