Australia announces the birth of its first female astronaut, a PhD in atmospheric physics
CTOnews.com, November 26 (Xinhua) Australian Space Agency Director Palermo said that after months of careful selection, Megan ∙ Christian (Meganne Christian) stood out from more than 22500 eligible applicants and now becomes Australia's first ever female astronaut (affiliated with the European Space Agency).
She is joined by 10 reserve astronauts, five professional astronauts and one deputy astronaut. As a reserve astronaut, Megan will keep her daily work, but will also conduct consultation with the European Space Agency and astronaut training, as well as annual medical and health check-ups.
According to public sources, Christian is a materials scientist and atmospheric physicist, received a doctorate in hydrogen research in 2014, is an Anglo-Australian-Italian member of the European Space Agency's cosmonaut team in 2022, is a New Zealand parent, has four nationalities, is proficient in English, Italian, French and Japanese, and is currently a materials scientist at the Bologna National Research Council (CNR) in Italy. He was an atmospheric physicist at Concordia station in Antarctica.
In addition, she is the founder and CEO of a British start-up dedicated to developing technology for mankind and a singer active in multiple choirs, passing the Aikido black belt test.
CTOnews.com learned that there are not many Australian astronauts, oceanographer Paul Scully-Power is the first Australian to go into space, while Andy Thomas, born in Adelaide, has participated in four NASA space missions and stayed on Russia's Mir space station for 141 days.
