SA remains committed to sending Australian of the Year to space

South Australia will still support a proposed mission to send European-trained astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg to the International Space Station, despite most other states and territories declining to do the same.

The New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Northern Territory and ACT governments have told ABC News they would not provide direct finance towards the venture. 

Western Australia's Science and Innovation Minister Stephen Dawson said the government had "advocated" to the federal government to pursue the initiative but "any financial contribution from [WA] would need to show a return on investment that aligns with the interest of Western Australians".

The ABC has approached the Victorian government for its position but is yet to receive a response.

States and territories had been asked by the federal government to help fund Ms Bennell-Pegg joining a European Space Agency (ESA) mission before the end of the decade, which includes specialised training in Germany and the United States.

Today, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said his government was awaiting indications from the federal government before it firmed up its contribution. 

The offer was extended to the federal government by ESA earlier this year.

The federal government's deadline is unclear, however ABC News understands October was the key month to notify Europe of its decision. 

The European Space Agency declined to confirm whether Australia had accepted the offer. 

Private backers hoping to get Australian to the launch pad

Ms Bennell-Pegg, who is the current Australian of the Year and director of space technology for the Australian Space Agency, has already undergone taxpayer-funded basic astronaut training with ESA following a special invitation to the Australian government. 

She completed that training in 2024, becoming the first astronaut trained "under" the Australian flag. 

While other Australians have travelled to space, none have done so as a formal representative of the country with a space agency, which would mark a milestone in Australia's space story. 

Andy Thomas and Paul Scully-Power were both US citizens during their time with NASA. 

More recently, other Australians including Eric Philips, Chris Boshuizen and Elaine Hyde travelled on space flights with private companies.

The pitch for Ms Bennell-Pegg's spaceflight has drawn public support from former Labor Prime Ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, along with current federal ministers.

But state reluctance means the federal government would have to shoulder most of the financial responsibility. 

"I think it's incumbent upon the federal government to really make the case of why, from a national perspective," said Professor Larry James, a former deputy director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who is now based at Monash University/strategic advisor to the Australasian Space Innovation Institute.

Professor James said that a decision against the mission wouldn't be a "death knell" for Australia's space industry, but would send a global signal of the nation's space priorities.

"I think we want to show that we are serious – we are serious about being a nation that invests in high technology, invests in space and wants to have sovereign capabilities, and this [mission] is a step to go down that path," he said.

A public crowdfunding campaign would act as an additional offset to the taxpayer contribution, should it get the green light from government. 

It has raised around $25 million in private and corporate donations, including from the Scully-Power family of Australia’s first astronaut Paul Scully-Power, who flew on the Challenger spacecraft as an American "flagged" astronaut in 1984. 

Entrepreneurs Jim Whalley and Dick Smith have committed $1 million each, along with similar contributions from private companies.