- For the first time, a German woman could fly into space.
The first German woman in space is set to fly into the sky aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Rabea Rogge is one of the four "international adventurers" on a planned multi-day commercial mission, SpaceX, the company of billionaire Elon Musk, announced. The launch could happen as early as the end of the year.
Rogge was introduced as the "mission specialist." The German studied electrical engineering and information technology at ETH Zurich, where she also worked on a concept for a nanosatellite centrifuge in a low Earth orbit. For her doctoral thesis, she moved to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
During the three to five-day mission aboard the SpaceX capsule "Dragon," the team will focus on the polar regions of Earth. From an altitude of 425 to 450 kilometers, they will study a phenomenon called "Steve," which are glowing violet bands in the night sky reminiscent of the aurora borealis. SpaceX also said that the "Fram2" mission could capture the first X-ray images of people in space. The other crew members come from Malta, Norway, and Australia.
Rogge said on X that she feels incredibly honored to have been chosen. "I'm really looking forward to being responsible for research and implementing some cool projects."
According to the German Aerospace Center (DLR), no German woman has been to space before. While there have been several candidates and reserve astronauts, no woman has ever flown, a DLR spokesperson explained. The DLR list includes 15 men who have been to space.
There is no universally accepted definition of who qualifies as an astronaut. For example, the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) only accepts members who have completed at least one orbit of Earth in a spacecraft. The ASE list of people who have flown in space includes around 700 names.
Registry of Space Travellers DLR: German astronauts and their missions SpaceX updates Rabea Rogge's message on X
Rabea Rogge's mission with SpaceX could potentially make her the first German woman to have X-ray images of her taken in space. This groundbreaking achievement is made possible by the "Fram2" mission, a collaboration between Rogge and SpaceX.
Following the success of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and the "Fram2" mission, billionaire Elon Musk's company is expected to continue pushing the boundaries of space travel, potentially paving the way for even more pioneering missions in the future.
