Daniel Angelo Roque (born November 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 market ...

. 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 human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

when the

Sub-Orbital spaceflight A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital re ...

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 District ...

, and obtained a bachelor's degree in psychology at

De La Salle University De La Salle University ( fil, Pamantasang De La Salle or Unibersidad ng De La Salle), also referred to as DLSU, De La Salle or La Salle, is a private university, private, Catholic Church, Catholic coeducational research university run by the I ...

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 The Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone (CFEZ), often shortened to Clark, refers to an area in Central Luzon, Philippines. The CFEZ in Pampanga covers portions of the cities of Angeles and Mabalacat and portions of the town of Porac while ...

Pampanga Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga ( pam, Lalawigan ning Pampanga; tl, Lalawigan ng Pampanga ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac ...

, 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 ( fil, Lungsod ng Taguig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in Metro Manila, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 886,722 people. Located in the northwestern shores of ...

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 National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...

, 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 spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...

, one of the American astronauts who conducted the first

Moon landing A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2, on 13 September 1959. The United St ...

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 (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...

, 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 atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital re ...

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 1991 births De La Salle University alumni Living people Astronaut candidates