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By Corih Kim
On July 20, 2014 the La Salle University Philippines Alumni Association (LSPAA) and the Philippine American Foundation for Charities invited the first Filipino astronaut, 23-year old Chino Roque, to Washington DC to receive commendations for his achievements. In 2013, AXE-Apollo Space Academy (AASA) and Buzz Aldrin (Chairman of AASA) began a competition to send people on a free trip to space. Aptly named AXE-Apollo Project, this project plans to send people into space before company begins providing commercial trips, currently valued at $95,000 for a 30-minute flight in space.
Roque is one of 28,000 people who applied from the Philippines, and one of the 23 winners selected from 107 countries. He stated that he heard about the competition on TV and wanted to give hope to those who lost so much to Typhoon Haiyan, which wreaked havoc on the island-nation in November 2013.
To prepare for this noteworthy event, Roque has since passed several tests involving abstract reasoning and obstacle tasks. He trained at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where he partook in trainings involving centrifuge, zero gravity, fighter jet, obstacle courses, and even rocket building.
Roque said in the interview, that his worst experience so far were all of the aptitude tests, while his best experience was meeting Buzz Aldrin, the U.S. astronaut who took part in the first moon landing of the Apollo 11 mission, who set foot on the moon after Neil Armstrong.
In a brief interview with Roque’s parents, Angie and Danny Roque, they talked about his calm, filial, and rational nature as the youngest child, who never took criticisms personally and always sought to do the right thing. The parents stated they always wanted him to be happy above anything, as that would lead him to become successful in whatever he did, never forcing any career choice on him; instead, they taught him to be happy and to love others.
The date for the space trip has not yet been announced, but is planned to take in 2015. Chino Roque promises to take the Filipino flag and rosary into space. Roque now plans on attending an aviation school, and pursue a career as a pilot.