Karman Project


The Karman Project is a global one-year fellowship program for leaders in the space industry, founded in 2020. The organization is based in Berlin, Germany.

Description

The Karman Project is designed to foster trust, independent dialogue, cooperation, and diplomacy among their fellows. Fifteen leaders in the space industry aged 15 to 45, who have achieved outstanding professional accomplishments in space, are selected each year from some of the most impactful space organizations and companies in the world.
The organization itself is a nonprofit, independent, with global headquarters in Berlin, Germany. The Karman Project has partnered with the Oxford Space Initiative at Saïd Business School to strengthen the relationships between committed individuals coming from the research, business, venture, government, and industry sectors.
, Jean-Jacques Dordain, former director-general of the European Space Agency, heads the board of the Karman Project.

History

The Karman Project was founded in 2020 by Ke Wang, Hannah Ashford, and Artur Koop.
The annual fellowship was hosted in Dubai, UAE in 2021, and in Normandy, France, in 2022.
The Maldives Space Research Organization hosted Karman in Malé, with the Hithadhoo School and Six Senses Laamu in 2023. In 2024 it was hosted in Bulgaria by EnduroSat.
In June 2025, Karman announced the world's first cultural payload to the International Space Station, sending seeds to space of culturally important crops. These included:
In October 2025, Karman launched the Space Peace Prize, to champion critical peace efforts in the space domain. In the same year, the annual fellowship week was hosted in Bangalore, India.

Fellows

Every year up to 15 fellows are selected to participate in the program, with an additional runner-up class denoted as Karman Pioneers. Many of the fellows have notable histories, which lends to their selection and leadership development within the industry.
The following table lists the Karman Fellows by year.
NameFellowship YearCountry
Chris Boshuizen2020USA/Australia
Christopher Richins2020USA
Fabien Jordan2020Switzerland
Feng Young2020China
Katherine Bennell-Pegg2020Australia
Lynette Tan2020Singapore
Marc Marzenit2020Spain
Prateep Basu2020India
Rafal Modrzewski2020Poland/Finland
Rogel Mari Sese2020Philippines
Thomas Pesquet2020France
Temidayo Isaiah Oniosun2020Nigeria
Tom Segert2020Germany
Yoav Landsman2020Israel
Pierre Bertrand2021France
Jingqi Cai2021China
Vanessa Clark2021USA/Australia
Davis Cook2021South Africa
Priyanka D. Rajkakati2021India/France
Clarisse Iribagiza2021Rwanda
Joe Laurienti2021USA
Jessica Meir2021USA/Sweden
Alessandro Golkar2021Italy
Jonathan Hofeller2021USA
Thomas Oehl2021Germany
Yuanyuan Peng2021China
Nahum Romero2021Mexico
Neha Satak2021USA/India
So-yeon Yi2021Japan
Joseph Abakunda2022Rwanda
Siti Nur Aazzah Abdul Aziz2022Brunei
Hazzaa Al Mansoori2022UAE
Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stepanian2022France
Theresa Condor2022USA
David Dana2022France
Melania Guerra2022Costa Rica
Martin Langer2022Austria
Tricia Larose2022Canada
Mike Lindsay2022USA
Xin Liu2022China
Balachandar Ramamurthy2022USA
Erika Wagner2022USA
Grier Wilt2022USA
Dongkun Xia2022China
Norilmi Amilia Ismail2023Malaysia
Liang Chen2023China
Joan Chesoni2023Kenya
Emma Gatti2023Italy
Jacob Malthouse2023Canada
Raffaele Mauro2023Italy
Raycho Raychev2023Bulgaria
Sara Sabry2023Egypt
Barret Schlegelmilch2023USA
Jenni Sidey-Gibbons2023Canada
Anastasia Stepanova2023Russia
Mani Thiru2023Australia
Trent Tresch2023USA
Aoife Van Linden Tol2023Ireland
Luis Zea2023Guatemala
Abeer S. Al-Saud2024Talga/Saudi Arabia
Tuva Atasever2024Turkiye
Salah Eddine Bentata2024Algeria
Bianca Cefalo2024Italy/UK
Tao Chen2024China
Richelle Ellis2024USA
Olayinka Fagbemiro2024Nigeria
Aisha Jagirani2024Pakistan
Alena Kuzmenko2024Russia
Kavya K. Manyapu2024India/USA
Will Pomerantz2024USA
Lucie Paulet2024France
Manny Shar2024UK/Pakistan
Jake Thompson2024UK
Armen Askijian2025USA
Venkata Sai Kiran Chakravadhanula2025India
Ian Christensen2025USA
Mariam Fardous2025Saudi Arabia
Mohammad Iranmanesh2025Iran, Belgium
Fani Kallianou de Jong2025Greece
Kartik Kumar2025Netherlands
Lucie Low2025UK
Matthieu Lys2025France
Alexandre Mangeot2025France
Charles Mwangi2025Kenya
Shawna Pandya2025Canada
Andrew Ratcliffe2025UK
Minoo Rathnasabapathy2025Australia/South Africa
Amelie Schoenenwald2025Germany