Sasha Barbagat

Changing pace now, and Australia's first qualified astronaut is a step closer to her first trip to space, with an offer extended to Catherine Bunnell-Pegg to go to the International Space Station.

The European Space Agency has offered the Australian of the Year an opportunity to join a future mission, but it will have to be funded, Chris, which means the Australian government will have to step in to help cover some of the costs, which could come up to $100 million.

Ouch.

We spoke to Catherine on the weekend briefing not too long ago, actually.

I found it really incredible to hear her talk about her journey to becoming an astronaut.

Yeah, it's funny.

It's like one of those areas where kids get like, I don't know, there's so much.

I'm like, I have a little boy and there's so much stuff that's like space.

His nursery is actually, what am I even talking about?

Oh, yeah.

Sure.

It's like planets and dinosaurs.

But I remember at the time we did this episode, we will pop a link in the show notes, actually, if you do want to listen.

It's a great chat.

But some people were like, oh, you're not a real astronaut.

You've never been to space.

Actually, the amount of training they have to undergo in order to get that qualification is insane.

They do a lot of scuba training, which is quite similar in a lot of ways to space travel in terms of the deprivation and the equipment you need.

And

They do all sorts of things underwater and there's also medical and scientific training and they learn how to conduct microgravity science experiments and perform emergency medical procedures.