critical thinkers, this is the day weekdays on d, w. please places in europe or smashing all the records. stepped into a bold adventure. it's the treasure map for modern globetrotters. discover some of you up to record breaking sites on your back. youtube and now also in book form . mm hm.

ah, ah. 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 jammin astral his space. and it is actually quite interesting. i mean, i've always described myself feminist. i've always been very much for a quality and saying women should be equal to man. and then should be doing more of

this, this, this. but i never realized until i started with this program, how extremely women are still being discriminated against in germany, in particular. was i know under 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 sana 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 remotest interested in space. why do you remember when i was about 8 or 9? and this is really vivid memories. one of these memories i think that you make and then you repeat yourself so many times they become really ingrained in you and i was sitting at our breakfast table and we get this newspaper, the cornerstone once i got, and i remember seeing this really as black and white fight in the newspaper they showed the surface of focus. kobus is one of the moons of moss. and i was just actually looking at this. i was like, wow, this spaceship is actually gotten there and it's wanted to take 1st of the surface and that was a moment for me when it clicked. it's not any that, but 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 customary at nasa. mission controls always have both in us. for good luck we astronauts a,

i was never that good at maths of physics at school till really, really late. i mean, i was much more the art, the musical, linguistic type m as a place where the things the were encouraged and 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 i spent 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 a best mediocre. a physics are to be really quite good because i was interested because i was motivated 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 various categories. the other people want to make up. they're not necessarily a true reflection of your in abilities. a lot of people say i talk to, he must be a smart might now i've got a 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 when it's ready and that's what ph. d just 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 to 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 to isa my job is kind of split. i'm an arc astronomer off is the alman 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 our and your and then a bit decoupled from that. as my own personal research, and then once a twice here, i'll actually go to the telescope the european southern observatory, or e or so sits 5000 meters above sea level. i'm a chalk, non thought collector in the chalet and andes. that's part of my role, alma and i will take observations again. father,

people always tell escape that 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. the travel for them that know the telescope, nath, technical details that 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, look at this altitude suzana has to carry oxygen for the drive. this is in which i don't know because when do you know, i don't think you will not from nevada. oh boy, but you know from up here the astronomers have an incomparable view of the stars.

but the working conditions are tough. ammonia, jenna, when hannah, yoda santa cruz on the, has to undergo a medical checkup when she reaches the top of the mountain. the observatory is so high up that sues on his blood, oxygen has to be monitored and the film team has to carry oxygen isn't with st. louis. 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 antennae 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 fate. and, but for me really, what tackler up there is, is probably the natural landscape. there's nothing growing at 5000 meters. right. is like being on another planet. you have trouble breathing at the beginnings you have to get used to the altitude. it's really just an experience that's completely outside of your comfort zone or your normal environment. few places on earth resemble mores or the mood as much as the geography surrounding the alma telescope. 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 advert that isa the european space agency. they were looking for a new generation of astronauts. i just moved to munich. i had just finished my ph. d and a couple of years because i didn't have very much work experience and i decided anyway, i would apply because these kind of job assessments come out every 15 years or so. so it was really a unique opportunity. and i applied on foot. i didn't get very far because basically i was very naive. i just didn't prepare myself. i made it to the 1st round, which any 10 percent of people made it into the tools. i mean, that was already in achievement. but rather than say, okay, i'm going to give it 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 flunked the tests completely really were 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 june online,

which is one of the big german online newspapers i tend to read and i saw they're looking for the 1st female german astronauts as well. okay, cool. yeah, i might have a chance and i thought, well, even if i don't, doesn't matter. i've been so upset. i was so upset with myself for screwing up last time. i just have to pay for it. so in the end i sent in my occasion yes or nothing in because i'm wrong, thoughts, thoughts up, designed to get on to the thought of the city astronaut and is the only space start up in europe. focusing on astronaut missions and marketing space flights. when i saw the 1969 moon landing on t v, i knew i wanted to be an astronaut. i 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 they would know women in germany trained for this guy in the last ease, the selection in 2009, no german women were among the final candidates for women doubt it, but remember that the selection criteria was set by amendment 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 posted a job for the 1st female jim and astronaut has opened the us that i chose for not after while they said, oh ok m you made it through the 1st round, would 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, and i then went the 1st series of tests for the national flexion. and these were really quite tough tests. i had

a bit of an advantage ready because i knew it was coming because i had been to those tests in 2000 and 8 am. so i knew or the some basic guess wards myself. okay, i'm gonna 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 me was quite easy as a has to do in english tests. many do math tests, basic physics questions. then there are all kinds of just general cognitive tests. we had tests the spatial awareness and those were shave for me among the most difficult ones. they had see things like you had some, you had a die and that be across one side of the die. and the deep, you know, nothing else, any of the other sites and the need, 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, right, right forward back. where is the cross now? that was something that had actually in the test in 2008 and the 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 actually something you can train very well. so i did for like 3 weeks for this test, i actually trained this. i made myself my own exercises, right. and worked out where the call should be recorded them to myself and then just practice this ad nauseum. and they 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 conflict. 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 there. i was out. i didn't want to remind you of this, the tool. 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 of my what? so my 1st reaction was like, there's been a mistake. but then i thought i'd be stupid to point out mistake or it, i just are 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 tests 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 way. that was selected after their psychological tests. so from 30 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 that about half a day, if i 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. whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

whoa, whoa. georgia regional wrong to come say clothes and to have invested say 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 it was the entire period that followed. i think i'm because or say i was very much a little bit deflated because i thought i kept it so much into this. and you know, a lot of michael's planning for the future had been put on hold because i was fully invested in, in this whole selection process. and then all of a sudden, 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 i'm 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 couple of months, you know, get to know my japanese colleagues better, help them with a 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 department 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 basically 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 bessie 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, you know, 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 irish monassa. yeah. shall. i'm in. and then it went from huh. ah, it's yours. i have my husband sent on the buyer on. we've been at it since 2017 now and have started training on 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 manager. sadly, that hasn't happened yet, but we're struggling through. we've financed all the training privately so far and

it's continuing steadly, financier, it's wonderful because of finding she 85 ah ah, in so t like is the 2nd astronaut trini. the married mother of 3 is a professional meteorologist. it's been that long time now of excellence when father of 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 typography. misha, 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. like, 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 mckayla fascinates. i've

always found it fascinating with us and exciting that with them learning so incredibly much and constantly pushing the borders of the possible van. cassandra fuller, 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 here real maxim on 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 fry. susanna came in 3rd place behind nicholas bowman and 1st an insert in 2nd effect. so nicholas ins went into training in san diego. in late 2017 miss bauman left for personal reasons, love i've been born jaws. casting up under what is was anna about his anna rejoined the program and his cool shopping credibly quickly have going on michelle. off your really thrown herself into the training to establish defying a hang at the moment, wedding training and part time. so i'm still working my normal job right for 50 to

70 percent of my time. and then the remaining time i divide between all these t 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 training with i've learned a lot about how the ios is operate. just about space flight in general, and about the politics, the space flight. 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'd ever experienced. so basically what happens in the parabolic fly that you have played as growing and

steady flight ad, it then pulls up very suddenly and it makes a 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 that you didn't have the resistance of the water. so you're completely free and what you're really disclosing. and so that was really incredible. and i think for me that was still probably the highlights 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 see was 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.

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

ah ah ah ah, at the moment we're talking to both face x and boeing for the 2 new providers that are gonna hopefully start offering commercial flights for humans to go to the i s s . and then our trainings 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 slot, a specific mission that's the provide is willing to sell to us. and, but 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, se, 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 crash appliances space. so we need about maybe a little bit. yes. less because we've done some training already but with needs at least 9 or 10 months. full time training for getting the 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 just before the launch, the other backup is fully trained and congest 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 image to be success. so that's the prime directive. use ana, n z a and d, as to an autumn, have to raise some 50000000 euros 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 an events that we give and say, i'm in the cloud. yeah. myself. i was to the other people, 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 get a space,

a 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 why the in zone 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 via i guess, 3 pillars and away as the 1st of all there's of course, the branding aspects. so large german companies will 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 microgravity provides a unique environment in which to test a multitude of things i, you can do physiological experiments on the human body material 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 stop as tourists 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 i was hoping that the politicians are, i mean german politicians are going to support us to help us show 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 put 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, suzana has learned the hard way back in german professional large 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 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, the ascent more than 2 astronauts into space has had at least one woman. and germany has just this huge number of astronauts in the international arms than that

. i mean after the u. s. and russia, of course, have many mos germany is. i think with japan, the country that has is number 3 and having most astronauts and has never had a woman. and that just, i think it's quite representative of society actually. because on paper, yes, 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 they're a 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 that still prevalent 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 girl was, you know, of not older than 789. coming up to me and saying, oh yeah, you know,

i think it's already cool. i 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 boys thing to do. and i'm like, oh 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 saying 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 in dallas. that's women everywhere. women can do everything they can even become astronauts. but it's a tough fight for susanna. and he asked one out and they can't complete their

mission without political and financial aid. getting to so does a con is mine because i thought 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 moon landing was such an inspiring environment for me. i was, i was full and it is shaped my whole lot. even bishop my c list is i'm the social security in the moment. it withou astronaut. with our whole focus, i want to create such inspiring moments for girls in germany on much was obvious off as long as they resist us will keep pushing with ah,

i want to leave this earth having experience as much as there is to experience, i think. and going space is kind of the pinnacle of that because you know this, i think there's just so many new things when you're in space that is really such a new experience. the so exclusive to that is really the be or an endo of the stream. mm. hm, to ensure that this dream has a chance of becoming reality. suzana trains for the final frontier at every opportunity. i mean, i've seen a lot of videos obviously of more of the journey is like so i think i have a pretty clear understanding of what is involved. you can of course, never anticipate how you're gonna be feeling at the mental state of mind. the 1st thing that happens when you are depends 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 low time to just experience and at the end of the sensations to their 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, i have the time is to look out the window and see the us. i think that will be the most magical moment. those i know has to clear many hurdles before going into space the us till now. tim still has to raise 50000000 euros for a spot on a space ex 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 what 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 space 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 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 wasted time. so i think, yeah, my way of dealing with this is taking it one day a time trying to enjoy the journey rather than 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. zeus honor is always striving to do her best. 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 was wanting to see our earth as a planet, 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 giving 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 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

ah, the german mineral resource agency is sounding the alarm, is the country supply of key minerals at risk. geologists are looking for new sources of these raw materials and are offering council to industry and government . the biggest concern,

the valuable metals are difficult to obtain and are becoming increasingly expensive . to morrow to day. and 30 minutes on d, w. we la euro. we diversity and anything unusual. no mountain is too high and no road is too long. in search of the extraordinary we are the specialists of lifestyle, europe, your roman, ah, 90 minutes on d w. hey guys that lab lynch. my welcome to my podcast, love the matter is that i and life celebrities influences and experts to talk about all playing loved effect from day to day. nothing less because all these things and more and then you know,

season off the pot come make sure to tune and wherever you get your path and join the conversation because you know it who love mattered. mm with ah ah, this is dw news life from berlin. iran and saudi arabia agreed to restore ties and reopen diplomatic missions. the surprise agreement between the long term rivals was brokerage by china, and the deal could have wide ranging implications across the middle east. also coming up ga.