Book Launch - Space XX: Gender, Power and the New Space Race

Join Elise Stephenson in conversation with Alice Gorman (aka Dr Space Junk) at the Australian Space Discovery Centre for the launch of Space XX: Gender, Power and the New Space Race.

As countries and powerful companies compete in a new space race, humanity’s future is being decided right now –and women are being left out.

Outer space is celebrated as humanity’s next great frontier, yet not everyone is set to have an equal share in its future. Once imagined as a global commons of scientific cooperation and cosmic discovery, space is increasingly framed as a ‘warfighting domain’, fuelled by (para)militarism, privatisation and patriarchy. It is concentrating wealth and power in the private sector, dominated by a ‘broligarchy’ of space entrepreneurs obsessed with looking to the stars to manifest their earthly destiny.

Elise Stephenson led a world-first research study of gender and diversity in space, involving more than 80 countries. In Space XX, she unpacks the findings and speaks with almost 1000 pioneering women, men, trans and non-binary people, from astronauts to engineers to ethicists – including Australia’s first female astronaut, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, and Space Agent One, Megan Clark. She reveals a story of inequality, exclusion and denigration of women in STEM. And she imagines better ways forward, including practical, evidence-based ideas that allow all humanity to flourish, informed by First Nations, feminist and futures thinking.

The Australian Space Agency are providing in-kind support only to host the event at the Australian Space Discovery Centre and will not receive any associated proceeds from the book sales.