Daniel Angelo Roque (born November 14, 1990), also known as Chino Roque, was one of the 23 space cadets selected from more than 28,000 Filipino candidates by the Axe Apollo Space Academy in 2013 to fly to space with

XCOR Lynx The XCOR Lynx was a proposed suborbital horizontal-takeoff, horizontal-landing (HTHL), rocket-powered spaceplane that was under development by the California-based company XCOR Aerospace to compete in the emerging suborbital spaceflight mark ...

. Being the only Filipino who qualified in the international astronaut selection, he would be considered as the first Filipino

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

when the

Sub-Orbital spaceflight A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the surface of the primary (astronomy), gravitating body from which it was launched. Hence, it will not complete one orbital ...

takes place.

Early life and career

Roque finished elementary and secondary education at

De La Salle Santiago Zobel School The De La Salle Santiago Zobel School, also referred to by its acronym DLSZ or De La Salle Zobel ( Filipino: Paaralang De La Salle Santiago Zobel), is a private Catholic basic education institution for boys and girls run by the Philippine Di ...

, and obtained a bachelor's degree in psychology at

De La Salle University De La Salle University (), also referred to as DLSU, De La Salle or La Salle, is a private, Catholic coeducational research university run by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools with main campus in Taft Avenue, Malate, Man ...

in 2013. He captained the men’s futbol team from 2010-2012. After graduation, he gained experience as an Student Pilot and obtained a Commercial Pilot’s license at the Omni Aviation Corporation in

Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone Clark, officially the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone (CFEZ), is a freeport and special economic zone in Central Luzon, Philippines, managed by the Clark Development Corporation (CDC), a government-owned and controlled corporation (G ...

Pampanga Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga (; ; ), is a province in Central Luzon in the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac to the north, Nueva Ecija to the northeast, Bulacan to the east, ...

, he owns and works as a

CrossFit CrossFit is a branded fitness regimen that involves constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. The method was developed by Greg Glassman, who founded CrossFit with Lauren Jenai in 2000, with CrossFit its registered trad ...

Trainer in Central Ground CrossFit, BGC,

Taguig Taguig (), officially the City of Taguig (), is the List of cities in the Philippines, fifth-most populous city in the Philippines situated on the eastern shores of Metro Manila, the national capital region. It is a center for culture, finance ...

Selection as astronaut

In 2013, after weeks of physical challenges and aptitude tests conducted by the Axe Apollo Space Academy at the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

, Roque emerged as the representative of the Philippines. Roque also aced a series of scuba and obstacle course training- at the Axe Apollo Space Academy in Florida. Roque endured the zero gravity aircraft, the centrifuge, and was granted a co-pilot experience in a fighter Jet where he states he was able to barrel roll and snap roll with a Marchetti.

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin ( ; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three extravehicular activity, spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and was the Lunar Module Eag ...

, one of the American astronauts who conducted the first

Moon landing A Moon landing or lunar landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, including both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was Luna 2 in 1959. In 1969 Apollo 11 was the first cr ...

in 1969, served as the selection committee chairman of the said program. Roque revealed that he would bring three items in the planned space flight. These are: the Filipino flag, a

rosary The Rosary (; , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), formally known as the Psalter of Jesus and Mary (Latin: Psalterium Jesu et Mariae), also known as the Dominican Rosary (as distinct from other forms of rosary such as the ...

, and a photograph. While the proposed

sub-orbital spaceflight A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the surface of the primary (astronomy), gravitating body from which it was launched. Hence, it will not complete one orbital ...

was scheduled to be completed sometime between 2014 and 2015, no flight has been conducted with the proposed

to date. This has been connected with the declared bankruptcy of XCOR Aerospace in 2017, the company sponsoring the vehicle to be used by the Axe Apollo Space Academy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roque, Chino 1990 births De La Salle University alumni Living people Astronaut candidates