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Astronauts

Exploring our Solar System is one of humankind's most exciting adventures. ESA selected its first astronauts in 1978 for the 1983 Spacelab mission on NASA's Space Shuttle. Here you'll find more about our current astronauts – the class of 2009.

Alexander Gerst
Andreas Mogensen
Luca Parmitano
Portrait of ESA astronaut candidate Marco Sieber. Credit: ESA
Marco Sieber
Marcus Wandt
Matthias Maurer
Portrait of ESA astronaut candidate Pablo Álvarez Fernández.
Pablo Álvarez Fernández
Portrait of ESA astronaut candidate Raphaël Liégeois. Credit: ESA
Raphaël Liégeois
Portrait of ESA astronaut candidate Rosemary Coogan. Credit: ESA
Rosemary Coogan
Samantha Cristoforetti
Sławosz Uznański
Portrait of ESA astronaut candidate Sophie Adenot from ESA's astronaut class of 2022.
Sophie Adenot
Thomas Pesquet
Thomas Pesquet

Second commercial mission launch to International Space Station no earlier than 20 April

Posted on Saturday January 30th, 2021 by julien

A launch date of no earlier than Tuesday, 20 April 20 has been set for the launch of the second crew mission that will bring four astronauts to the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively. Japanese JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA astronaut […]

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Matthias Maurer

Matthias Maurer assigned to first spaceflight

Posted on Tuesday December 15th, 2020 by Ally

ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer has been assigned for his first flight to the International Space Station during a meeting of representatives from the USA, Russian, Japanese, Canadian and European space agencies at the beginning of December.

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Thomas Pesquet

Browse Thomas’ pictures of Earth and more… you might find your favourite spot on our planet!

Posted on Tuesday October 20th, 2020 by julien

Browse all Thomas Pesquet’s pictures on a map of the world and more.

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Astronauts

Thomas and Matthias talk training in Astro Chat series

Posted on Friday August 14th, 2020 by Ally

ESA astronauts Thomas Pesquet and Matthias Maurer are training for upcoming missions to the International Space Station. Follow their journey in our Astro Chat series.

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Matthias Maurer

Video: Matthias Maurer trains at NASA

Posted on Monday June 22nd, 2020 by Ally

ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer has started pre-assignment training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, USA. Join him on his journey in the first of a series of vlogs. Matthias travelled to Houston from Europe with fellow ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet. Thomas has flown to the International Space Station before, while Matthias is training […]

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Samantha Cristoforetti

AMA with the masters of confinement

Posted on Wednesday April 29th, 2020 by Ally

An astronaut, a ‘marsonaut’ and a doctor log into Reddit… It may sound like the start of a joke, but gather all your questions about confinement because it’s happening today! Today, Wednesday 29 April from 17:00, ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, Mars500 ‘marsonaut’ and ESA astronaut support engineer Romain Charles and Antarctica medical doctor Nadja Albertsen […]

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Astronauts

At home with ESA

Posted on Thursday April 9th, 2020 by Ally

Efforts are underway around the world to stop the spread of coronavirus, which means many of us are confined to our homes. We're unable to visit loved ones and in some cases, unable to go outside at all. Not being able to go about our normal daily lives, coupled with the risk of contracting this new and highly contagious virus, brings up all kinds of emotions. So we asked astronauts and experts who have experienced long periods of isolation or quarantine for their tips to help us through.

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Luca Parmitano

Operation Aikidō

Posted on Thursday March 19th, 2020 by Ally

Adrianos Golemis is an ESA flight surgeon based at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. He spent nine months in isolation at Concordia research station and three weeks in quarantine with ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano. He is currently working at a hospital in Thessaloniki, Greece. In this second post of a two-part blog series he helps you use isolation to your advantage.

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