How a young girl with stars in her eyes became Australia’s first female astronaut

AdvertisementSaveYou have reached your maximum number of saved items.Remove items from your saved list to add more.ShareAAAKatherine Bennell-Pegg has come a long way since spending childhood evenings lying on the grass in her Curl Curl backyard, gazing at the stars.

“My mum explained that some of those stars were planets – whole worlds no one had seen up close,” said Bennell-Pegg, the 2026 Australian of the Year and director of space technology at the Australian Space Agency.That young girl growing up in Sydney’s northern beaches had dreams of “big, beautiful space missions” and realised early on that applying herself at school was the first requirement.A strong senior student at Sydney’s Queenwood, she had an ability in physics and maths that was encouraged by teachers.

“They put me in one of the Olympiads quite close to the exams and I just didn’t know the content. So that was a real lesson for me – that aptitude is the second factor that matters; effort is the first,” she said.Katherine Bennell-Pegg has become the first astronaut trained under the Australian flag.

European Space AgencyBennell-Pegg was keen to follow her HSC with a double degree in physics and aeronautical space engineering at Sydney University “because space was in the title”. With a university entrance rank one point lower than required, she started in mechatronic engineering before being able to transfer for second year.Advertisement“I needed 99.

1. I still remember it because I’d drawn it on a post-it note and stuck it on my wall,” she said. “I saw it as an aspirational goal – not something that I’d failed if I didn’t reach but a personal challenge.”

With just 10 per cent of all astronauts being women, even if women have been in the role for 63 years, Bennell-Pegg is on a mission to improve the numbers – not just for astronauts but for participation in STEM courses overall.Bennell-Pegg says, “If you have a big dream you should pursue it, without hesitation.”European Space Agency“Too many people are stepping away from STEM subjects before they see what they’re capable of.

I know people who’ve failed exams at school who now have PhDs in maths.“By studying STEM subjects, you can be empowered with the tools to solve problems you care about and make discoveries that excite you.”If space is calling but you’d like to contribute from the Earth’s atmosphere, opportunities are there.

“If you put the word ‘space’ in front of a career title, it exists or probably could,” she said. “Yes, we need scientists to ask the big questions and engineers to figure out how they can be answered. But we need tradies to build what is designed and tested.

We need people that run the transportation systems like the trucks, the trains and the ships that carry the rockets.”AdvertisementLoadingBennell-Pegg highlighted the opportunities available to engineers – the people who “make the impossible possible” – and is adamant that current HSC students with STEM ambitions should have confidence in their ability to contribute.“Engineering creates order out of chaos, and with it you can really create your own career.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t fit the stereotype – in fact, if you don’t you add a different kind of value because you can see things differently,” she said.“I’ve lived and worked in six countries on some of the most compelling missions I could ever have hoped for – human missions around the moon, robots on other planets, interplanetary probes, space stations – and then brought that knowledge back home.“I say, if you have a big dream you should pursue it, without hesitation.”

Record-breaking NRL star Alex Johnston on how to get the winning HSC edgeAdvertisementHe’s the greatest try-scorer in NRL history, was the dux of his high school and even has a side-hustle as a children’s author.March 13 will be a day that Rabbitohs winger Alex Johnston and the 40,000 South Sydney and Roosters supporters in Allianz Stadium will never forget.The 31-year-old star was mobbed by thousands of fans in the first minute after half-time when he became the highest try-scorer in the game, breaking Ken Irvine’s record of 212 tries, which had stood since 1973.

Johnston at the time said it was a surreal and awesome experience to attain that record. The 2012 HSC graduate from Endeavour Sports High School has always been an overachiever. As a student, he said he understood the value of having a Plan B but saw more merit in committing 100 per cent to his goals.

Johnston makes a run during a game with the Dragons last year.Getty Images“I know everyone always says, ‘have something to fall back on’, but for me, it’s more about training yourself to always do your best in everything you do,” he said.“If you have a growth mindset of always trying to improve and be your best in everything, you’ll hopefully make it [to that goal] – and in the off chance that you somehow don’t, your mindset means you’re set to succeed in other ways.”

AdvertisementJohnston spent much of his childhood in Hurstville – “unfort