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Australia Spent AUD $466,000 on ESA Astronaut Training (europeanspaceflight.com)

submitted 6 months ago by threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works to c/esa@feddit.nl

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I'm not sure how much astronaut training usually costs, so I don't know if this is a good deal or not. Seems a bit strange that there is no flight plan at this point, though.

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[–] Buzztiger@feddit.nl 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Some more information in the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/23/australian-taxpayers-paid-466000-for-training-of-nations-first-female-astronaut-katherine-bennell-pegg

There is currently no mission planned for her as Australia just paid the training cost when she did not get selected into the ESA astronaut chor.

Australia would also now have to pay for a ride to the ISS. The tourist ticket info I found was about 30 MUSD but that's including the training I think.

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 months ago

she did not get selected into the ESA astronaut chor

Ah, a pity then. I wonder if she could reapply in a subsequent year?

Alternatively, I suppose there's always a chance she could be hired by a company like Axiom or similar...