The Nightly On Leadership: How Australia’s first female astronaut, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, leads by example

They say in space, no one can hear you scream, either for your life or at your underlings, so being the kind of leader who needs to be large and in charge is hardly a prerequisite.

In fact, as Australia’s first female astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg sees it, the Hollywood cliche of rah-rah alphas on space missions is a potentially deadly impediment.

The recently minted Australian of the Year was selected in 2021 by the European Space Agency, from more than 22,000 applicants, to be trained as an astronaut. From the very start, her leadership potential was tested.

The gruelling psychological testing all astronauts undergo is also designed to identify those who know how to be elite followers.

“Those traits, how to lead and how to support a leader, are considered in astronaut selection, in astronaut training, and throughout any mission,” Bennell-Pegg tells The Nightly On.

“So, that human performance piece is absolutely central to what we do and how ESA and NASA and all other astronaut training centres work.

“In the selection process, for example, it was clear that ESA was trying to choose astronauts that had a team orientation far greater than an individual orientation.”

Of course, there’s only so much that can be learnt from mere questionnaires.

“In our psychology stage, there were definitely tests looking at how our priorities may shift under pressure,” Bennell-Pegg reveals.

“A lot of people become far more about the individual goal when under stress, and they’re looking for people that either maintained or increased their team orientation.

“During our training, we did ocean survival, firefighting and rescue and winter survival training, and throughout that our leadership and our team skills were tested and evaluated and go through continuous improvement.”

Every space agency has bespoke methods for applying stressors to astronaut candidates during training to see how they perform.

Canada’s space program, for instance, puts would-be astronauts into escape rooms.

ESA employs a variety of techniques, from task overload on computers to brutal panel interviews and team stress tests Bennell-Pegg literally can’t bring herself to speak about.

“I had to sign an NDA, so I can’t go into it in too much detail,” she says with a smile.

“Ultimately, they weren’t looking for a particular personality type per se, more not having extremes in any personality type, because that indicates an inflexibility.

“And when you’re working in an extreme environment with people with different backgrounds, both from a professional perspective and a cultural perspective, you have to be able to adapt.”

This type of leadership selection could also have ramifications here on Earth.

Stress-testing managers and selecting only those who demonstrate an ability to default to a team orientation would be a game-changer in a corporate setting.

Management theory is far more nuanced today than it was even 10 years ago, but many workplaces remain entrenched in outdated thinking.

People often rise through the ranks into leadership positions based on their personal performance, with scant regard given to how they operate within, or on behalf of, a team.

Throw in egos, petty office politics, favouritism and nepotism, and you have all the ingredients for poor leadership and a toxic work environment.

In an office, this may result in disgruntled workers who huddle around the water cooler complaining about the boss. In space, it could get everyone killed.

“You’re leading them in an environment that is very hostile,” Bennell-Pegg agrees.

“It’s got radiation. You’re isolated and confined, you’re distant from Earth and you’re dealing with changes to your body from altered gravity.

“You’re in space, usually for a six-month mission, and if you’re in the leadership role, you have to be able to look after people in every way.

“At different times you will be a leader of experts or you will let an expert lead on a particular task.”

Most workplaces will have at least one egocentric self-promoter but ESA made it clear from the start that such a mentality would get you booted from its space program.

“I was told on the first day at the astronaut centre that there are only three ways you can fail this training,” Bennell-Pegg says.

“They selected us (for our abilities), so if we fail out, it means we’re not putting in the effort. The second was if something medical happens and they can’t recover you. And the third is if you are not a team player and you undermine others.

“It’s not about elbowing your way into a leadership position. It’s about working together as a team, and the leader facilitates that.”

Like many kids, Bennell-Pegg dreamed of being an astronaut. The key difference is she never stopped dreaming.

When asked to write down three different career options by a teacher in high school, Bennell-Pegg wrote down one — astronaut — and refused to add any others.

She undertook extracurricular activities to boost her chances of success: aerobatic flying lessons, amateur astronomy, sports and debating.

While working to complete a bachelor of engineering (honours), majoring in aeronautical engineering (space), and a bachelor of science in advanced physics from the University of Sydney, Bennell-Pegg also held internships as a mechanical engineer and physics researcher.

She was also an Australian Army reservist and a volunteer in the NSW State Emergency Service, and travelled to India with Engineers Without Borders. Married with two daughters to spacecraft systems engineer Campbell Pegg, Bennell-Pegg joined the Australian Space Agency in 2019, where she would eventually become director of space technology for the agency.

Throughout her career she has seen, time and time again, that collaboration is a mission-critical skill and not exclusive to good leadership.

And acknowledging failure and learning from it is also a vital part of the process.

“We often had closed-door sessions with current and former astronauts, where they would share their experiences of things that they had done well or not done well,” the 41-year-old says.

“The sessions were very open and frank, and we’re not allowed to share those with anyone, because these people really showed their vulnerability and were generous in sharing those failures so that we can all learn.”

Reframing failure as a learning opportunity is critical to the space sector as a whole, and Bennell-Pegg cites NASA’s Apollo 13 mission as the most famous example.

Immortalised in a 1995 Hollywood movie starring Tom Hanks as Commander Jim Lovell and Ed Harris as flight director Gene Kranz, NASA’s third attempt at a moon landing exemplifies this philosophy.

Bennell-Pegg says one line from the movie has particular significance to the space industry in real life, and no, it isn’t, “Houston, we have a problem”.

“The famous line from Gene Kranz in mission control is, ‘Let’s work the problem, people’,” she says.

“He focused on that step-by-step problem-solving and remaining composed in a crisis and was really data-driven.

“So when disaster struck on Apollo 13, mission control immediately sought the facts; they had clear communication . . . and they empowered the experts and empowered the team to be resourceful and remove the limitations on what was available in the system.”

There’s a quieter, less overt kind of leadership that Bennell-Pegg has embodied since becoming the first astronaut to train under the Australian flag — leading by example.

Almost permanently clad in her official blue flight suit, she endlessly tours the nation, speaking at schools and universities, visiting research facilities and businesses in the space industry.

It’s a punishing schedule but never a chore. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“It’s a pleasure to be able to get out and about and unlock doors for our researchers and young people,” she says.

“I feel I have a responsibility to deliver as best I can for that goal, and in doing that I need to be able to give people an aspirational vision of the future.

“I remember being a young person, waiting to meet astronauts, and it’s really important to me that I give every young person I meet that energy in the moment, because they carry that with them.”

Her tireless efforts in this regard, combined with her professional achievements, made her a worthy recipient of Australian of the Year.

And she’s determined to ensure not a second is wasted over the next 12 months spent as the holder of this prestigious title.

“The biggest impact astronaut programs have, beyond the capability it unlocks for the country in many areas like science, research and the international relationships, is uplifting the aspiration of the next generation to pursue hard, technical pursuits,” Bennell-Pegg says.

“Australia relies on space far more than most know, and we also have more capability than most know, so I’m really determined to use this year and whatever comes next to increase the opportunities for Australians to benefit from space and to take part in it, and to unlock the opportunities and pathways in STEM in this country.

“There’s a quote from Plutarch that says, ‘The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled’, and I’ve seen firsthand that space can do that.”