Australia’s first professional astronaut and 2026 Australian of the Year, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, will join leading astronauts, spaceflight engineers, doctors and policy makers in Hobart for Humans in Space: Challenges for Exploration 2026.
The four-day workshop, hosted by the Australasian Society of Aerospace Medicine, will bring international expertise to Tasmania to explore the challenges of human spaceflight and future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.
Humans in Space: Challenges for Exploration 2026 will be held at Crowne Plaza Hobart from 24 to 27 August.
The workshop forms the face-to-face component of the Tasmanian School of Medicine’s Humans in Space unit within the Healthcare in Remote and Extreme Environments (HREE) program and is open to participants with an interest in space life sciences and human spaceflight.
Ms Bennell-Pegg was named 2026 Australian of the Year after becoming the first Australian to qualify as an astronaut under Australia’s space program. She graduated from Basic Astronaut Training at the European Astronaut Centre in 2024 and is widely recognised for championing Australia’s space sector and inspiring the next generation of scientists, engineers and explorers.
Ms Bennell-Pegg’s involvement comes shortly after she returned from the Tasmanian School of Medicine’s Expedition Medicine course, an eight-day intensive residential program delivered in partnership with the Australian Antarctic Division that trains participants to provide healthcare in remote, austere and extreme environments.
Held at Mount Cameron, the course develops practical skills in expedition planning, wilderness emergency response, search and rescue, remote area communications, navigation, steep terrain rescue, cold injury and high-altitude medicine, with a strong focus on leadership, teamwork and decision-making under pressure.
Pictured: John Cherry, Senior Lecturer in Remote & Extreme Environments Health at the University of Tasmania, pictured with 2026 Australian of the Year, Katherine Bennell-Pegg.
