chin on both sides of the pitch. come wednesday night. you're watching a d. w. use a duck film is coming up after a short break. it's tracking the story of germany's 1st a female astronaut. that will be along shortly. don't forget at website is there any time you made it a d, w dot com, you'd also check out our social media channels for twitter and instagram. the handle you need is at the w news. i'm anthony howard in berlin for me and the team here. thanks for watching and stay with us. if you are interested in the global economy, our portfolio d w. business beyond. here's a closer look at the project. our mission. to analyze the flight for market

dominance. get a step ahead with d w. business beyond with no gravity, no atmosphere, an endless vacuum of radiation, dust, magnetic fields, and amazing celestial bodies where earth ends and the universe begins with space. the final frontier astrophysicist doctor's was on not under his training to take on the stars. the mission hasn't really changed from the beginning. the mission is to send the 1st female chairman astro to space and it is actually quite interesting. i mean, i've always described myself feminist. i've always been very much fe quality and saying women should be equal to men and men should be doing more of this business.

but i never realized until i started with this program. how cream really, women are still being discriminated against germany in particular. susanna, honda has space in her soul and stars in her eyes. a scientist. she's fighting 21st century patriarchy so she can touch the sky. oh ah, you santa under wants to be the 1st german woman in space. so i was always just fascinated by space. and i'm not sure why, because like,

no one in my family is in the remote is interested in space. why do you remember is when i was about 8 or 9 and this is really a vivid memories. one of these memories i think that you make and then he repeats yourself so many times they become really ingrained in you and i was sitting at our breakfast table and we get this new state of the cluster and cider. and i remember seeing this really as black and white fight in the newspaper. they showed the surface of focus. robots is one of the moons of mosque. and i was just actually looking at this. i was like, wow, this spaceship is actually gone back and it's wanted to take photos of the surface and that was a moment for me when it clicked. it's not a that we can also go that. and from that point on i really became fascinated in earnest, was based susanna watches the space ex lodge, maybe one day she'll be on board. it's got the peanuts, they good luck, it's the customer. a nasa mission controls always have both been us. for good luck we astronaut a

. i was never that good at maths of physics at school till really, really late. i mean i was much more the art c music hall, linguistic type. those were the things that were encouraged and that i was good as well. and actually i had a bit of a dilemma because i really, i was fascinated by space and i knew i wanted to do something with space, but i always thought i'm not good at math or physics and that's just not going to happen for me. that was really how has been most of my use and then i got a lucky break and away in 10th grade. so when i was about 16, i guess 15 or 16, i had a really motivated physics teacher. and somehow from like one week to the next, i went from being at best mediocre physics or to be really quite good because i was interested because i was motivated to also get my best and to met to work at it.

and all of a sudden i realized these categories that people put you in, you know, you can't do this, you're good at this and you're bad at that. they're just categories. the other people want to make up. they're not necessarily a true reflection of your in abilities. a lot of people will say i've got to, he must be a smart man. i've got ph. d because i'm pig headed because you know, i, i bulldozed myself through this because i forced myself to stick at it. not because i'm so smart. i mean it's ready and that's what ph. d does for you really. i think forms your capacity to prevail against the odds. susanna has taken an unconventional path to become an astronaut. she's not connected to an international space agency like isa the european space agency. rather, she's part of a private organization called d as till now to which hopes to send germany's 1st female astronaut into space.

that's why she's kept her job at the european southern observatory. that means she's training alongside her full time job. ah. so basically in my position at isa, my job is kind of split. i'm an arc astronomer off is the alma regional center. so i was the tell escape itself, these the antennas that are in chile, and we have this regional center in gushing, say my main job is supporting the other astronomers that are using alba and your and then a bit decoupled from that. as my own personal research, and then once a twice here, watch it go to the telescope. the european southern observatory, or e, so sits 5000 meters above sea level. on the chalk, non thought collector in the chill lane andes. that's part of my role, alma and i will take observations again for other people on with tele stay. there

is purely in service mode, which means that the people that want the observations don't actually travel themselves, but they have people like me that travel for them that know the telescope, no technical details, but then execute the observations, make sure the data, okay, and then send them the data the alma telescope is part of one of the highest astronomical observatories in the world. this is one of the world's driest places to allow. and i said when i says at this altitude, suzana has to carry oxygen for the drive. this is a delta dental vehicle and do you know i drove into you or not from nevada? oh boy, you know from up here the astronomers have an incomparable view of the stars.

but the working conditions are tough. annette dental when hannah you know what? i'm a santa cruz on the chest to undergo a medical checkup when she reaches the top of the mountain. the observatory is so high up that susanna's blood oxygen has to be monitored, and the film team has to carry oxygen. isn't with alma is a state of the art telescope that studies light from the darkest depths of our universe. the telescope consists of 66, high precision antenna spread over 16 kilometers. alma is the world's most powerful telescope for observing molecular gas and dust. the essential components of stars, planets, and galaxies. from the engineering side, of course,

alma is incredible. we have 66 antennas that are working together. and there were a lot of problems at the beginning to do with the altitude as well as snow storms, as high winds. since i was engineering, it's a huge fates. and, but for me really, what spectacular up there is, is probably the natural landscape. there's nothing growing at 5000 meters rights is really big on another planet. and you have trouble breathing at the beginnings you have to get used to the altitude. it's really just an experience of completely outside of your comfort zone or your normal environment. few places on earth resemble mars or the mood as much as the geography surrounding the alma telescope. think it was always in the back of my mind that i would like to be an astronaut, but it's not something you actively pursue. right. you have to wait for a position to be advertised, basically. so in 2008, i saw an adverb, that ether,

the european space agency. they were looking for a new generation of astronauts. i just moved to munich. i had just packaged in a couple of years. of course i didn't have very much was experience and i decided anyway, i would apply because these kind of job assessments come out every 15 years. also say it was really a unique opportunity. and i applied on 40 i didn't get very far because basically i was very naive. i just didn't prepared myself. i made it to the 1st round, which any 10 percent of people made it into the tools. i mean that was already chief meant. but rather than say, ok, i'm going to get my best shot. i just kind of thought, oh, it's like an intelligence test. i can't really do much and i'll just see. and then of course i flip the tests completely. i really, they're rated myself for many, many years. i was really upset with myself that i just threw away that chance. ready in 2016. i saw this advert on the online,

which is one of the big german online newspapers. i tend to read and i saw that for the 1st female german astronaut as well. okay, cool. yeah, i might have a chance and i thought, well, even if i don't, doesn't matter. i've, you know, been so upset. i was so upset with myself growing up last time i just pay for it. i'm so in the end i sent in my application. yes or nothing in behind. romford stopped up. designed to get on for thought of the city, astro. now to is the only space start up in europe. focusing on astronaut missions and marketing space flights. when i saw the 1969 moon landing or t v, i knew i wanted to be an astronaut. i'd never have thought that 50 years later, there would still be no german woman in the space. i might have done it. i've spoken to many politicians and heads of space agencies and they all agreed,

but they said they couldn't do anything because there were no women in germany trained for this guy in the last is the selection in 2009. no german women were among the final candidates that one month out. members at the selection criteria was set by men coming to the selection committee and documents were very strongly male dominated. i listened to all that for a while. at the time i was managing director for personnel agency for aerospace engineers. finally i'd had enough of that conversation for you. so i took things in hand to myself and post to the job. the 1st female jim astronaut has opened the door child for after while they said, oh okay, and you made it through the 1st round. we'd like to actually meet you. you have to fill in all these preliminary forms. and then after, i think about 6 months after i had applied, i then went for the 1st series of tests for the national election. and these were really quite tough tests. i had

a bit of an advantage maybe because i knew it was coming because i had been to those tests in 2000 and 8 am. so i knew all this done basic as for myself, okay, i'm going to do whatever i can. and if i don't make it, if i'm not smart enough, whatever, fine, but i'm actually going to get my best shot this time. and i really prepared so there's all kinds of different questions. this ranges from basic english, which really was quite easy as they have to do an english test. and then you do math test, basic physics questions. then there are all kinds of just general cognitive tests. we had tests the spatial awareness those washy for me among the most difficult ones . they had to do things like you had m. he had a di and that be across one side of the dike and the deep nothing else. any of the other sites and the needs, this was all acoustic. see it here, okay, the cross to the top. and then there is a sequence of movements, so that's

a forward forward, back left, dr. fried forward back. whereas the cross. now that was something that had actually in the test in 2008 and i just was completely, i mean i just, i'm pretty sure that's one of the reasons i didn't make it to the next round. basically i completely from down that one. i just, i was like, come, i mean i had no idea i'm but it's actually something you can train very well. so i did for like 3 weeks pull this test. i actually trained this. i made myself my own exercises right and worked out where the cross should be recorded them to myself and then just practice this ad nauseum. and it helped say, i mean all of these things can be trained. and after the 1st round, it went down to 31 and 3 people made it 3. but then the 2nd round, it was a bit more subtle. the 2nd round was more psychological. it was really psychological tests. so they had a bunch of psychologists interviewing you. then you had teamwork exercises that be

these exercises were a conflict would be artificially generated and they wanted to see how you respond to the conflicts. and actually after that round, i was completely convinced that i had screwed up completely. i threw away all my application materials because i was convinced that was it. i was out. i didn't want to remind her of this at all. and i just went to bed and i was working fine. and then 2 days later they were like, oh you made it to the next round my what? so my 1st reaction was like there's been a mistake, but then i thought i distribute to point out mistake or it, i just, sorry. ok. if that's what you think, fine. so the 1st thing i went was i ran down to the seller to care for the application materials because they had all kinds of codes for the medical test and whatever was supposed to keep. right. and i was really lucky that the rubbish hadn't been taken out basically. and i managed to retrieve from on the piles of other people's rubbish. i love it was only the wastepaper race. it wasn't that disgusting. my managers retrieve my application details that were 8. that was

selected after the psychological tests from 30 it went down to 8 of the psychological tests. what came after that was the medical test. they basically just test, you know, every part of the body. and there was a very strong focus on the ice. so we had about half a day of tests, you know, all kinds of things, night vision and peripheral vision and all kinds of things. but basically they just test that you're healthy. and then after these medical tests, which lasted 3 days, that was 66 hours the aids made it through the medical tests. and those were the finalists that were then kind of presented to the public oh 00 one

with his visual wrong to come say clothes and to have invested so much and then to have it snatched away from you is yeah, really difficult. it was one of the worst days of my life. i but it was definitely i think one of the most difficult days or not so much the day was that it was the entire period that followed. i think because also i was very much a little bit deflated because i thought i kept it so much into this and you know, a lot of mike was planning for the future. had been put on hold because i was fully invested in, in this whole selection process and then all of us and also okay, i'm back to, you know, the old thing and my where my really going with my job. but of course i was like okay, wow. yeah, so i'm here, i'm back where i started after a year of intensive preparation. my, what am i gonna do now?

so actually i had talked to my boss who's fantastic. he was very understanding throughout the whole thing. and i said, look, we have these partners in japan, and i was rolling out new software, this aqua around the globe, basically. so i said, look, maybe it would work if i go to japan for a couple of months, you know, get to know my japanese colleagues better help them with the software. and for me personally, just get away from germany and from all the media and from everybody asked me questions. so i'm luckily here, great i'm, i mean he thought it was going to be also good for the apartment for my professional development, which in the end it was and say he let me go to japan basically, and i was away for 2 and a half months base he just to get away from things i get new ideas into my minds, just see different people have nobody know about the astral thing. basically it's our basic just escaped. i think that was the my thing. and then ironically, the way it is sometimes, just as i had got to japan, i been in japan for

a couple of weeks. i started in a forgetting about it was so exciting being in japan and i was different foods. i couldn't understand anything. so i had loads of other things on my mind, and that's when i got the email, and i just got his email saying, oh, do you still want to be an astronaut? nicola has quit actually waited a couple of hours just to let it sink in. and then iris bonaza. yeah. shall i'm in . and then it went from huh. ah, it's yours i, it's my husband's he sent from the buyer on. we've been at it since 2017 now and have started training the astronaut back then we actually thought that the german government, all the space agencies would jump on board fairly quickly and support the project. sadly, that hasn't happened yet, but we're struggling through them. if we finance all the training privately so far,

and it's continuing steadly financier, it's wonderful. gisela finding shantee fights ah ah, info. teela. ike is the 2nd astronaut trini. the married mother of 3 is a professional meteorologist in their own path. now, of course, excellent. when father, by ace travel has always been in my life, my father went into space on s t s 99, and was a specialist on the shuttle radar topography mission, which is the topography dataset of the earth that i used to my ph. d and bangladesh . now that's why i became an astronaut because i've always watch what goes in to being an astronaut. not only the space flight, but all the science and research behind actual, honest me, my fascinates,

i've always found it. fascinating was and exciting. natalie. i'm learning so incredibly much and constantly pushing the borders of the possible vision. vance was out of it was off. thank heaven. we couldn't be much taller. it's really comfortable. but there's not that much room for a height. it's perfect. ah, they are the real latham and fun of the initial response was very, very skeptical. many in the space travel field, both in the d l. r and the isa said it was a crazy idea that the, the, i don't think that's true any more. i think were taken very seriously in the international aerospace industry because we've been around so long because we've proven ourselves as a company in resistance to the venture

and to the plan to send a german woman into space means the astronaut training program is privately funded . it relies on donations and proceeds from lectures that was land that says was on our flood thigh. susanna came in 3rd place behind nicholas bowman, and 1st an insert in 2nd effect. so nicholas ins went into training in freight. young. i'm from in late 2017. miss bauman left for personal reasons, love. i've been born jaws. casting up on the little donna that susanna rejoined the program and to school shop incredibly quickly, how will i michel off your really thrown herself into the training to establish defying a hey at the moment we're doing training and part time. so i'm still working my normal job

rate for 50 to 70 percent of my time. and then the remaining time i divide between all these p r events, fundraising activities, and the training. i'm probably doing about 15 to 20 percent training at the moment . and the idea is that once the funds are secured, we're going to be able to devote ourselves 100 percent. our time child training with have learned a lot about how the i assess, operates just about space flight in general. and about the politics. the space, like most of it is really fascinating stuff. i think for me the actually highlights is still with the parabolic flights, but i got to do that was just an experience unlike anything else i've ever experienced. so basically what happens in the parabolic slide that you have played as growing

and steady flight ad, it then pulls up very suddenly and it makes it parabolic shape. and in the top part of this parabola, your waitlist. a ah so you really get to experience weightlessness the same way in astral in space does

. and that was just indescribable. i mean, it was, it was fantastic. it was like floating in a pool, but you don't have the resistance of the water. so you're completely free and what you're really just losing. and so that was really incredible. and i think for me that was still probably the highlights. all of the training we've done, i've really enjoyed getting my pilot's license. and so that again was something that was a bit harder than i imagined. i've been paragliding for since 2008. so for over 10 years. and i assumed getting my pilot's license, going to similar to getting my paragliding license. i'm much tougher, especially the theory. you have to know a lot of theory, but it's been really rewarding. i mean, i've loved flying for a long time. and now i also get to fly by tries planes, which is great though not all astronauts are pilots having a pilot's license and experience flying and aircraft is an asset to the mission.

nasa pilots need over 1000 flying hours before they're allowed to pilot the space shuttle and so the next thing that we have now on our agenda is diving i, we're going to do a diving training get to where the space suits underwater. and we have see how astronauts to space walks basically under water. that's also going to me. amazing. ah, who ah

ah, ah ah ah, at the moment we're talking to both face x and boeing. are the 2 new providers that are gonna hopefully start offering commercial flights for humans to go to the i s s . and then our training is really gonna have to be customized who we fly with because these space vehicles are quite different. commands are quite different. so on, we do have a slots, a specific mission that's the provide is willing to sell to us and but yeah, at the moment we're still trying to get the money. so if we gets a significant amount of cash, i'm talking about a couple of 1000000, maybe by the summer site, then we would actually start the training in the autumn and we'd probably moved to houston, texas to,

to start full time training. so the idea is that with full time training, it takes about a year to get to the standard that you could ash appliances, space. so we need about maybe a little bit. yes, less because we've done some training already. but we'd need to know at least 9 or 10 months full time training for gary. know that the idea is and i think that is pretty clear that both trainees will finish the training because the idea is not to kick one of them off. but the idea is really to have a backup, so we'll have a prime candidate as a backup candidate that both will be astronaut candidates and both will receive exactly the same training. i'm so if the prime candidates get sick has an accident, what? but just before the launch, the other backup is fully trained and can just immediately, stephan. it's probably going to be quite difficult situation for the 2 of us once the selection is happens. and because of the moment we're on equal footing and we're good friends inside and i, we get on very, very well. and it is going to obviously be

a shift in the relationship once the selection is made. remember, i hope we can still work together very productively. i mean, we both want the much to be success. so that's the prime directive. usa enzo and the us to now to have to raise some 50000000 europe's for the space flight . so our problem is really money. it's very, very easy to summarize. it's the money. so we derive our income from basically events that we give, or claudia myself. i was to the other people in the team give talks against money. and that's basically how we're keeping ourselves close at the moment . i do these events and by receiving donations as well, we're basically staying afloat for the moment. and we're in a much better situation now than we were a year ago. because we have enough to keep afloat comfortably and to continue with the training. but it costs about $50000000.00 to go to space and window when they

are having these $50000000.00. and of course, that's a source of constant worry to us because we were all committed to making this mission a success. we've all invested a lot of time and energy into this. and we want to see either in 0, myself go up into space as the 1st german woman. and it's at this point, it's not yet clear that's going to happen just money. and we're hoping to fund the mission wire, i guess 3 pillars and away as the 1st of all there's of course, the branding aspects. so large german companies would have to pay a lot of money to say we brought the 1st german woman to space. and then we have the science time that we can sell our microgravity, provides a unique environment in which to test a multitude of things i, you can do physiological experiments on the human body materials science and all kinds of interesting experiments are worth a lot of money to for relevant companies. and as i say, very important to us that we do scientific experiments that we just don't yourself

as tourist because we want to show, okay, there are women, the scientist, the technical that can actually do these jobs. and so we are also talking to companies that would then give us their experiments to do. and then also we're hoping that the politicians are, i mean german politicians are going to support us to help us share it with our message. there are women everywhere because germany apparently is committed to equality and is committed to getting more girls and women into the stem subjects and science technology engineering mathematics. and if they really want to puts the money where their mouth is, ah, we hope that they're going to help us to support this mission. since starting her astronaut training, susanna has learned the hard way that in german professional life men and women are neither socially nor financially equal

german claims of social equality or belied by facts and figures. susanna and d. austin auto want to help change that because i've been working in a very is national environments. i left germany when i was 18, i went to the u. k. i went to canada and then i've been back in germany for the last 12 years, but i was working at isa, which is not a german institution. it's completely international. and so i've not really been exposed to the german working world until now until with us financing. and the more i see them, why here in the media, the more i get people writing to me on facebook or, and other social media channels. i really see how much was still to be done. jamie has had 11 men in space 11 and not a single woman. and if you compare that to any other country, every other country this sent more than 2 astronauts into space has had at least one woman. and germany has

a huge number of astronauts in the international standard. i mean after the u. s. and russia, of course, have many more channels. germany is, i think with japan, the country that has, that is number 3 and having most astronauts and has never had a woman. and that just, i think it's quite representative of. so i see actually, because on paper yet germany ever of course we have equality. if you look in the minds of people in society, it's still very, very different. i mean, as soon as there are kids, it's often the woman that stopped working. if you look at the gender pay gap, it's really bad in germany. it's. i have a 20 percent. and just the stereotypes, the still prevailing in society are incredible. i mean these, these kids will often writes me. that's one of the things i enjoy actually. i mean, we're setting out to be role models for young girls for young women that want to get into the sciences into technology and the number of times i have girls, you know, of not older than 789 coming up to me and saying, oh yeah, you know,

i think it's already cool and like spice. everyone's telling me, oh, it's not really for me. and the boys are making fun of me because it's, and you know, it's not very female thing to do. it's more of a boy's thing to do. now my god, i mean i had this when i was growing up fine, but i thought the world would have moved on since then. it's very not or least not in germany. and that's really our mission to create a role model to change this mindset to just show in society that women are everywhere, even in technological fields. and women can even become astronauts. i'm not saying the astronauts are more important than lots of the other engineers, a mathematician scientist and so on. it's just a, they're very much in the public eye as i'm seeing right now, right. i'm very much in the public eye and i think we need people. we need women to be in the public eye to show to young women and dallas, that women are everywhere. women can do everything they can even become astronauts . but it's a tough fight for susanna, and d. austell noted they can't complete their mission without political and financial

aid. getting to so does a lot often does it since icon is mine has really hot from my hope of going into space myself one day by my personal goal is simply to prove to germany and its men, that women and especially girls in germany can do it there are role model with the landlord and moon landing was such an inspiring moment for me. i was full and it is shaped my whole lot. even bishop, my syllabus i'm the source is beauty and then no man to withou astronaut with our whole focus. i want to create such inspiring moments for girls in germany on much was obviously off, as long as they resist us. we'll keep pushing with ah,

i want to leave this earth having experience as much as there is to experience. i think i'm going space is kind of the pinnacle of that because you know this. i think there's just so many new things are when you're in space that is really such a new experience there. so exclusive to that is really the b o and endo of the stream. mm. to ensure that this dream has a chance of becoming reality. susanna trains for the final frontier at every opportunity . i mean, i've seen a lot of videos obviously of more of the journey his life. so i think i have a pretty clear understanding of what is involved. even of course, never anticipates how you might be feeling at the mental state of mind. the 1st thing that happens when you are pens where your definition of space starts

exactly, but in weightlessness, you just float around and experience the weightlessness. and then of course, i mean, i think actually during the 1st portion of your trip to space, you have very little time to just experience. and that the, you know, the sensations to the magic because you're so focused on all your checklists and on everything going correctly. but i think once on the, i assess, the 1st thing i would do want to have the time is to look out the window and see the f. i think that'll be the most magical moment. those i know has to clear many hurdles before going into space d as turnout, him still has to raise 50000000 euros for a spot on a space. next flight. susanna has to complete her training and be selected. as an astronaut, it's a long uphill battle. but she is ready to go the distance for her dream of flying

into space and seeing the earth from above. ah, ah, i've decided to enjoy what i can in the moment. so that's really why i'm trying to live that every day. so i'm not thinking ok, i'm doing this training because i one day once again, i'm trying to think more. okay. you know, i'm doing my pilot's license and i, she really enjoy it. and with our, their space or not is still a great experience. it's a great opportunity, i'm learning something i'm enjoying it, and of course it will be the icing on the cake to then also go into space. but if that doesn't happen, it's not waste time. so i think, yeah, my way of dealing with this is taking it one day a time trying to enjoy the journey brought in just focusing on the destination.

hm. it was honest, path to space is unconventional, which could be a drawback. but she's a fighter. the voyage itself is difficult, but the path to reach it is no easier. still, her positive winning attitude helps her keep trying, pushing through and moving forward. ah, no, no one knows that she or her colleague will be chosen to fly to the stars. susanna is always striving to do her best. ah ah

ah ah ah, ah, i hate to be the 1st german woman in space. first of all, just for me personally, i'm completely selfishly. it's just a dream i've always had. i've always wanted to see the earth from above. i always wanted to see our earth as a plan is probably the most beautiful planets of all and to experience weightlessness to just, you know, go to the final frontier, the space. but also beyond that. and that's the reason i really like yes and

projects. i really like the idea of being this role model and getting to the next generation a little bit of just being maybe figure that can inspire our women and by the next generation to do whatever they want to do to go into science to go into technology or maybe in broader terms, just to follow whatever dreams they have. so that's something i already i had for ah, ah, susanna. honda is an astronaut in search of a rocket ship,

a galactic pioneer with the courage and strength to take on the world. and the universe and despite the yachts, nevertheless, she persists in being a role model for girls and women. and in showing that even gravity can not hold her down with a blue with

to own or not to own. what about a sharing economy instead? a change in thinking is changing the economy to create something new

the economics magazine made in germany in 30 minutes on d w. ah, with should we? how do we treat animals and why hasn't anything changed in the naturally a clear violation of animal protection long? why do we love some as companions while eating others? yeah, i never thought about how strange it was that i could pack my dog with one hand. well, i ate a pork chop with the other. what is the alternative? and how does it taste? it's like the real thing. yes out. will we all be begin in 50 years?

i literally think that legs are the next generations. well, i'll look back and say, that's crazy that we ever use animals to get a documentary series about the future of food. and there were complex relationship with animals. the great meat debate this week on d. w. ah, this is d w. news, and these are our top stores. an id crowns president vladimir lensky has denied keep, had any involvement in the sabotage at the north stream. gas pipelines, the on the se, pipelines which brought russian natural gas to germany through the baltic sea were blown up in some.