#85 Germany’s 1st Female Astronaut: Space Was Only For Experts, That Era Is Over.

Germany's First Female Astronaut Rabea Rogge on What Liftoff Actually Does to Your Body, Why Space Is No Longer Only For Experts, And The 200-Person Rule For Starting a Society on Mars.She boarded a SpaceX Dragon atop a Falcon 9 in the middle of a lightning storm and didn't believe it was real until the rocket started moving. She reveals what your body actually does when gravity disappears, why the capsule felt like a camper van you can walk on the walls of, and why she thinks the mission that will decide humanity's future isn't to Mars. It's to the ocean floor.Rabea Rogge is a robotics researcher, mission pilot on FRAM-2 — the first private spaceflight to orbit both poles — and the first German woman in space. Trained at ETH Zurich where she led a student satellite team, she now researches autonomous ocean robots at a Norwegian research institution and has a book on robotic exploration of extreme environments publishing summer 2026.She explains: ◾ What liftoff actually feels like from the Falcon 9 pilot seat, and why her body couldn't decide if it was falling forever ◾ Why private SpaceX Dragon missions are proving that educators, artists and geologists belong in space as much as test pilots ◾ The spider web of lights she saw from 430km up, and why you can see humanity from space but only at night ◾ The 200-300 person threshold: how many humans it takes to start a functioning isolated society, and what that means for Mars ◾ Why she thinks the ocean is more neglected than space, and how autonomous robots are about to change that00:00 The Journey to Space Begins00:29 Experiencing Liftoff and Overcoming Fear00:51 Journey to Space: The FRAM-2 Mission03:42 Training for the Stars: Preparation and Mindset06:57 Experiments in Space: Scientific Endeavors09:32 The Experience of Launch: Emotions and Realizations12:54 Life in the Capsule: Space and Perspective15:52 Earth from Above: The Overview Effect18:48 The Future of Space Exploration: Opportunities and Challenges21:43 Building a Society in Space: The Next Frontier35:25 Exploring the Moon: A Launchpad for Mars40:06 The Quest for Mars: Why Explore?44:30 Robotics in Space: From Satellites to Autonomous Boats47:27 The Future of Robotics: Dreaming Big01:01:11 Environmental Monitoring: The Role of Autonomous Boats01:08:36 Advice for the Future: Dream Big and Support OthersFollow Rabea: Website: https://www.rabearogge.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabearoggeFollow Jacob: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@watsonhowland Website: https://www.jacobwatsonhowland.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0r4v5xgyYz0rTFSLklk0Em?si=50e0db37b82147f8 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/watson-howland/id1813625992