Australia is celebrating the rise of women in space with NSW-raised Dr Megan Christian selected as part of the European Space Agency’s astronaut class of 2022.
She is one of 11 astronauts, along with five career astronauts and one paratrooper selected from more than 22,500 applicants. If she goes to space, she will be British as she was born there and has UK citizenship, plus Australian, Italian and New Zealand citizenship.
She is fluent in English, Italian and French, and also speaks Japanese.
The federal government was keen to claim Dr Christian was the country’s first female astronaut after the announcement, with Swinburne University space lecturer Kim Ellis hoping to make a decision on that title when she launches her suborbital parabolic mission next year. 80 km above the ground.
Ellis was selected to train as a PoSSUM (Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere) scientist-astronaut in 2020. The non-profit American research and education program is run by the International Institute of Astronomical Sciences (IIAS), and her training has been ongoing. Delayed by the global covid pandemic. She has been selected as the 2021 International Ambassador for PoSSUM 13 – a group of female scientist-astronaut candidates.
Dr. Christian’s interest in space began when an astronaut came to her school as a child and she aspired to be one “ever since.”
“Being an astronaut is the best job in the world,” she told ESA in an Australian accent following her selection.
“And I think that’s very unique from many different perspectives. It’s something special that most people can’t reach.
Dr Christian is a materials scientist and atmospheric physicist who came to Australia in 1992 at the age of five, attended The Illawarra Grammar School in Wollongong and studied engineering at UNSW. University Medal in Industrial Chemistry. In the year She received her PhD from UNSW in 2014 for research into hydrogen storage.
After that, she wanted to return to Europe and continued her post-doctoral research at the Italian National Research Agency. In recent years, she has also been stationed twice in Antarctica for the Italians at Concordia Station, a French-Italian research facility located 1,100 kilometers inland from Australia’s Casey Station.
Australian Space Agency chief Enrico Palermo said Dr Christian’s selection would inspire the next generation of young Australians.
“We often call it an introduction to STEM because it has the ability to spark a curiosity about space – and what better thing to do than to know that someone who grew up here in Australia might one day go into space,” she said.
“This presents a great opportunity for Australia to build on our relationship with the European Space Agency and the UK Space Agency.”
Oceanographer Paul Scully-Power was the first Australian to fly into space aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1984. Following in his footsteps is Adelaide-born Andy Thomas, who has been part of four NASA space missions, including 141 days on the Russian space station, Mr.
