Post by Michelle Henderson

The impact of hearing 2026 Australian of the Year, astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg at the Australian High Commission, New Zealand last week has stayed with me. Truly inspiring story of setting, a (very) stretch goal - being the first Australian astronaut - and then doing the incredibly hard mahi to achieve it, including completing 4 degrees and the incredibly gruelling and competitive astronaut training! If this is what future Space exploration looks like, we are in safe hands. Thanks Daniel Sloper PSM for arranging such an engaging speaker for this year's Trans-Tasman dinner, which New Zealand's Aluminium Smelter (NZAS) were happy to co-sponsor.