Katherine Bennell-Pegg. Katherine Bennell-Pegg (born 1984) is an Australian astronaut and Director of Space Technology at the Australian Space Agency. In 2024, she became the first qualified astronaut under the Australian flag as well as the first female Australian astronaut. She is a dual Australian and British citizen.

Early life and education

Bennell-Pegg was born in Sydney and grew up in the Northern Beaches area. She completed a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours), Aeronautical & Space Engineering and a Bachelor of Advanced Science majoring in Physics at the University of Sydney.

Upon completion of her double-degrees, Bennell-Pegg received an Erasmus Mundus full scholarship to study in Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom and the Netherlands as part of the Joint European Master in Space Science and Technology programme. Under this program, she completed a Masters of Science in Astronautics and Space Engineering at Cranfield University (1st prize shared) and a Masters of Science in Space Technology at Luleå University of Technology.

During her university education, Bennell-Pegg also completed the Space Studies Program at the International Space University, alongside two internships. These included working as a Thermal Engineer at the European Space Agency, and at NASA Ames designing a low-cost spacecraft development platform.

Bennell-Pegg also served in the Australian Army Reserve for which she was awarded the Sword of Honour and the Sir Thomas Blamey Memorial Award.

Career

Airbus 
Bennell-Pegg's first job after her MScs was as a mission systems engineer at Airbus UK, working on a range of future missions and concept studies, including Martian in-situ resource utilisation (ISRU), future remote sensing missions and space debris removal. She also worked as a thermal architect on the LISA Pathfinder team during the thermal test campaign.

She was transferred to Airbus Defence and Space Germany in 2016 where she worked as a project manager and systems engineer of advanced robotic projects, as well as being the Service Operations Lead for the .

Australian Space Agency 

Bennell-Pegg moved back to Australia to support the growing local space sector and started her position as the Assistant Manager of Space Capability and Robotics & Automation at the Australian Space Agency based in Adelaide, South Australia. In 2022 she was promoted to the role of Director of Space Technology.

In 2022, Bennell-Pegg delivered The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering Innovation Lecture.

Australian astronaut candidate 
Bennell-Pegg applied to join the European Astronaut Corps as a British dual citizen in early 2021. She was one of the 25 finalists for the 2022 ESA Astronaut Group, but was not selected as part of the 17-person crew. However, the Australian Space Agency sponsored her training with the European Space Agency (ESA), announcing in March 2023 that she would train alongside the mission crew at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC). This marked the first time ESA provided basic training to an astronaut candidate from an international partner, making the EAC the third centre in the world to do so. Bennell-Pegg became the first person to train as an astronaut under the Australian flag, marking a significant achievement for the country's representation in human spaceflight. Previous Australian-born astronauts, Paul Scully-Power and Andy Thomas, flew to space as US citizens representing NASA. UK-born Australian citizen Meganne Christian was also selected as a member of the 2022 ESA astronaut reserve, representing the UK Space Agency. Bennell-Pegg completed the ESA Basic Training curriculum and graduated with her ESA classmates from "The Hoppers" group on the 22nd of April 2024 as a fully qualified astronaut.

Awards 
In March 2023, she was named as the overall winner in addition to the winner of the Leader of the Year category at the Woman of the Year Awards in Adelaide.

References 

Aerospace engineers
Astronaut candidates
Australian astronauts
Luleå University of Technology alumni
Alumni of Cranfield University
Space programme of Australia
21st-century Australian scientists
21st-century Australian women scientists
Australian Army officers
Living people
1984 births
University of Sydney alumni