CANBERRA, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Astronaut and space engineer Katherine Bennell-Pegg has been named the Australian of the Year for 2026.
Bennell-Pegg, who became the first person to ever qualify as an astronaut under the Australian flag when she graduated from a European Space Agency program in 2024, was awarded the prestigious honor at an annual ceremony in Canberra on Sunday night.
Accepting the award, Bennell-Pegg said she hoped to unlock a path for more Australians to become astronauts.
At the same ceremony, pioneering dementia researcher Henry Brodaty was named the Senior Australian of the Year for 2026. Brodaty in 2012 co-founded the Center for Healthy Brain Ageing at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney.
Nedd Brockmann, who has raised millions of dollars for people experiencing homelessness by running across Australia and inspiring others to take on similar challenges, was awarded Young Australian of the Year. ■
