Suzanna Randall
Born (1979-12-06) 6 December 1979 (age 44)
Cologne, West Germany
EducationUniversity College London
Université de Montréal
Scientific career
InstitutionsEuropean Southern Observatory
ThesisAsteroseismological Studies of Long- and Short-Period Variable Subdwarf B Stars (2006)
Doctoral advisorGilles Fontaine

Suzanna Randall (born 6 December 1979) is a German astrophysicist working at the European Southern Observatory.[1][2] In 2018, Randall was selected as an astronaut candidate by the private spaceflight organisation Die Astronautin ("The Female Astronaut"), which aims to send the first German woman into space.

Education and career

Suzanna Randall was born in Cologne, Germany[2] on 6 December 1979 to a British father and German mother.[3][4] Randall recalls initially not being interested in studying science in school. Her role model was the astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, and the desire to become an astronaut led Randall to switch from studying English and German to physics and math.[5] After she graduated from the Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Gymnasium in Bergisch Gladbach in 1998,[3][6] she received a master's degree in astronomy at University College London in 2002 and completed a PhD in astrophysics at the Université de Montréal, advised by Gilles Fontaine, in 2006.[1][2][3] Her dissertation was titled Asteroseismological Studies of Long- and Short-Period Variable Subdwarf B Stars.[7]

Starting in 2006 Randall was a fellow at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Garching for three years. She then held an unpaid research associate position working on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) for one year. Since then she has worked various duties at the institution related to the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and conducted research on pulsating blue subdwarf stars.[2]

Private astronaut candidate

Randall applied to the 2008/2009 astronaut selection of the European Space Agency (ESA), but failed the initial psychological tests.[1] In 2016 she was one of 400 applicants to the spaceflight programme Die Astronautin, a privately funded initiative to send the first female German astronaut to space. Die Astronautin initially planned to send an astronaut to stay around ten days on the International Space Station by 2019, at the latest,[8] but this was later postponed to 2023.[needs update][9] Nicola Baumann and Insa Thiele-Eich were selected as the final candidates in April 2017,[10] although Randall, one of the six finalists, replaced Baumann in February 2018 after Baumann withdrew from the programme.[1] After their selection, Randall and Thiele-Eich have undergone astronaut training and engaged in public relations benefitting the programme's sponsors. One of the candidates will be selected to fly the mission after the programme has raised sufficient funds from sponsors.[1] Randall has taken part in the training part time, alongside her research at ESO,[2][11][12] which has included flight training for a private pilot licence.[13][14]

In November 2018 Randall appeared on the German-language quiz show Ich weiß alles!  [de].[15] Since September 2020 she has appeared in videos for the YouTube channel "Terra X Lesch & Co", produced by ZDF, where she explains scientific topics and alternates as presenter with physicist Harald Lesch.[5] In 2021 Randall and Thiele-Eich wrote two children's books under publisher Oetinger-Verlag [de]—Unser Weg ins Weltall and the sequel Abenteuer Raketenstart—intended to inspire interest in science and astronauts, especially in girls.[5][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Astrophysikerin ersetzt Eurofighter-Pilotin" [Astrophysicist replaces Eurofighter pilot]. Spiegel Online (in German). 15 February 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Eyes on the Stars: ESO astronomer Suzanna Randall on what it's like to train as an astronaut". ESOblog. European Southern Observatory. 27 April 2018. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "Suzanna Randall". Munzinger Biographie. Munzinger-Archiv. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  4. ^ Vielreicher, Rosemarie (13 May 2022). "Astronauten-Anwärterin Suzanna Randall: 'Wir wollen die ersten deutschen Frauen im All sein'" [Astronaut candidate Suzanna Randall: 'We want to be the first German women in space']. Abendzeitung München (in German). Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Freybott, Jan Christoph (2 March 2021). "Im Schwebezustand" [In limbo]. Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  6. ^ "Von Bergisch Gladbach ... ins Weltall" [From Bergisch Gladbach ... into space]. MINT-Express (in German). Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Gymnasium. January 2019. p. 6. Retrieved 29 October 2022. 20 Jahre nach dem Abitur wieder zurück in der alten Schule.
  7. ^ Randall, Suzanna (2006). Asteroseismological studies of long- and short-period variable subdwarf B stars (Thesis). Bibcode:2006PhDT........11R – via Astrophysics Data System.
  8. ^ "Die Astronautin: Zwei Kandidatinnen setzen sich im Auswahlverfahren durch" [Die Astronautin: Two candidates prevail in the selection process] (PDF) (in German). Die Astronautin. 19 April 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  9. ^ "Zweck" [Purpose] (in German). Die Astronautin. Retrieved 5 October 2022. Wir starten 2023 [We start in 2023]
  10. ^ "Die Astronautin: Zwei Kandidatinnen setzen sich im Auswahlverfahren durch" [Die Astronautin: Two candidates prevail in the selection process] (in German). Die Astronautin. 19 April 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  11. ^ Blage, Judith (22 February 2019). "Raumfahrt: Wie wird man Astronautin?" [Spaceflight: How do you become an astronaut?]. Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German).
  12. ^ Pascher, Dorina (15 November 2018). "Interview: Suzanna Randall will die erste deutsche Frau im All werden" [Interview: Suzanna Randall wants to be the first German woman in space]. Augsburger Allgemeine (in German).
  13. ^ "Astronautenausbildung: Münchnerin Suzanna Randall lernt fliegen" [Astronaut training: Suzanna Randall from Munich learns to fly]. Augsburger Allgemeine (in German). 22 August 2018.
  14. ^ Kaller-Fichtmüller, Andrea (22 September 2020). "Interview mit Meteorologin und Astronautin Dr. Insa Thiele-Eich" [Interview with meteorologist and astronaut Dr. Insa Thiele-Eich] (in German). Wir sind glücklicherweise beide bereits im Besitz unserer Fluglizenzen. [Luckily we both already have our pilot licenses.]
  15. ^ Wolfsgruber, Axel (11 November 2018). "Wasser für 10.000 Menschen! "Viva con Agua"-Gründer siegt im "härtesten Quiz Europas"" [Water for 10,000 people! Viva con Agua founder wins the "toughest quiz in Europe"]. Focus (in German). Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  16. ^ Baum, Veronika; Roßbach, Susanne (20 July 2021). "Der Traum vom All: Die Astronautinnen Suzanna Randall und Insa Thiele-Eich" [The dream of space: the astronauts Suzanna Randall and Insa Thiele-Eich] (in German). Bayerischer Rundfunk. Retrieved 3 November 2022.

Further reading

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