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UNTOLD: Who is the Director of Space
14 APR 2025
Content warning: This article discusses domestic violence.
Reaching for the stars is a phrase few take literally. That is, unless you are Dr Catherine Grace. At just 40, Catherine has overcome poverty and violence to become one of the youngest female space directors in the world.
“When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system” – Kalpana Chawla, the first woman of Indian origin to fly to space.
Space. An expansive area. The height, depth and width within which all of earth’s living things move. Outer space? Well, that’s all things. The physical universe beyond earth’s atmosphere. And it belongs to all. It makes sense, then, that the concept of outer space would intrigue Dr Catherine Grace. The daughter of a Polish refugee, Catherine was raised as a first generation Canadian, before moving to Europe and then Australia. She’s a global citizen, no longer from a piece of land – but rather the solar system itself. The first person in her family to attend university (on a double scholarship, no less) Catherine is formally trained in medicine, but her new title is Director of Space for the South Australian Space Industry Centre. “The first time I say [my title] to people in Australia, they're like, space? Like interior design? I'm like, no, outer space,” she laughs.
While health might seem like an unconventional entrance into the world of astronauts and black holes, Catherine sees a through line – both fields seek to understand what is beyond human comprehension. “I would like to unlock all the secrets of the universe and find ways to make life better, here on earth,” Catherine shares.
So how did she become one of the youngest female space directors in the world?
Dr Catherine Grace
The birth of resilience
“Without my education, I don’t know where I would be,” Catherine muses. It’s a choice set of words for someone sitting in the courtyard of Adelaide’s innovation district. She’s poised on a chair beneath the imposing façade of Lot Fourteen – a groundbreaking urban renewal project. When conversation slows, Catherine has a tendency to look up - always observing the world as it wobbles on its axis. Her striking eyes work quickly to process her surroundings – two cerulean irises so perfectly round, you could mistake them for little planets. Commuters fly past, peddling or pacing, but most slow just enough to spare a glance her way. To be around Catherine is to feel the eyes of others. She has a presence, a way of moving through the world that is at once welcoming and self-assured. She demands to be seen. It’s the kind of disposition that is often earned through hardship – from knowing what it feels like to be overlooked or underestimated. Something Catherine is all too familiar with. Growing up, Catherine’s father subjected the family to severe domestic abuse – both physical, psychological and economic. At just 15, an attempt was made on her life. It was this moment that saw Catherine speak up, despite her own fears, reporting her father to the police and having him removed from their home. “I just had to call 911 and be like, ‘somebody help us’,” she says. “It is incredibly difficult to ask for help in a domestic violence situation, even more so when you are a child.” It’s the kind of traumatic event that can act like a wormhole in one’s life – blanketing you in darkness and sucking you into a void. But, for Catherine, it somehow birthed light. “As a child, you don’t control your surroundings and that brings a lot of shame, because you think the perfect picture is a sitcom family,” she explains. “But life isn’t like that, and it actually is okay, and it doesn’t have to shape you for the negative.
I don’t have to be less because of situations that aren’t in my control. What I can control is myself - and that’s having a positive attitude, a little bit of optimism and resilience. Dr Catherine Grace
Catherine is an avid learner
Women in STEM
This resilience saw her apply for medical school and move to Poland, the country her mother once fled, to pursue an education as a doctor. It saw her move again to the United Kingdom to complete her residency and pursue medical research. Her resilience was there to catch her when she leapt into a new industry – outer space. “We talk about resilience, but my childhood did instil it in me,” she shares. “There is nothing I think I cannot do. Maybe I haven’t studied it yet, but I know I can learn it…well, maybe I can’t learn to kick an AFL footy 50 metres!”
This resilience also placed her in good stead to face an adversity of a different kind. Her youth, appearance and gender identity are all traits that work against her in a male dominated industry. Catherine says it is “disparaging” to be the only woman of power in the room. Often, the only woman at all. “You know instantly that you are not like everybody else, that you look different, you speak different, you think different and your background is different,” she adds. “It’s palpable.” It’s a tale of glass ceilings turned glass cliffs, women in Catherine’s position often finding themselves “put in precarious and difficult positions”. From her position at the top, Catherine can clearly see a “scarcity mindset” when it comes to bringing women into sectors like space. “If you want the world to be representative of what it is, you have to be a part of that, right? If you somehow get your foot in the door, you [need to] hold that door open and support others to ‘come on in’,” she explains. “You give a hand up to others who need it.” If you can’t be what you can’t see, then Catherine is the walking – and fast talking – poster girl for all those that come after her. “I don’t know how to describe that feeling, because it’s not pride – it gives me a sense of joy, to know that someone can be having a hard time at home, or school is pretty rough, but they see someone who says, ‘don’t give in, you absolutely can do it,’” she adds
While I'm not saving lives day to day like I am in the hospital, I wake up every morning knowing that I am contributing to something bigger than myself. Dr Catherine Grace
Catherine at her new home, Lot Fourteen
Ground control
Every day, Catherine is working in a field that deals with the in-between. She’s the tip of a spear that is trying to pierce a thick glass ceiling. All the while, she’s working to see “little old Oz on the moon”. So how does she ground herself amid this ethereal exploration of the unknown? “Taking a swim at one of South Australia’s incredible beaches, taking a bush walk to breathe the air, or star gazing when camping in the outback,” she shares. “As individuals we may be a small part of the universe, but we are all connected to something bigger than ourselves. “It’s breathtaking to soak it all in.” Want to gaze out at galaxies? Visit one of South Australia’s dark sky sanctuaries, take a trip through time when you visit the Flinders Ranges, or pay a visit to our Space Discovery Centre in the heart of the CBD.
*Since speaking with Catherine, she has progressed into a new national role as Director Civil Space, based out of the Australian Space Agency at Lot Fourteen here in Adelaide.
