ESA title

Archive

Astronauts

Tim Peake to focus on outreach and education

British ESA astronaut Tim Peake has announced he will take a two-year leave of absence from the Agency starting 1 October 2019.

Read the article
Astronauts

Samantha dives back into operations

ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will swap her spacesuit for dive gear this month as commander of a 10-day international research and exploration mission to the Atlantic Ocean floor.

Read the article
Alexander Gerst

Return to Star City

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst returned to Star City, Moscow, this week where he attended a traditional welcome home ceremony alongside NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev at the Yuri Gagarin Training Center (GCTC).

Read the article
Alexander Gerst

Back to Earth – crew support

From coordinating the development of space food to accompanying astronauts into quarantine and managing family travel budgets, the role of crew support at ESA is never boring. Unit lead Romain Charles describes it as: “facilitating the daily lives of astronauts so they can focus on their missions”. We asked the team to tell us more about this vital and varied role.

Read the article
Alexander Gerst

Alexander’s second ride back to Earth

After six months in space ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst, NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev returned home from the International Space Station.

Read the article
Matthias Maurer

Matthias Maurer graduates as ESA astronaut

German citizen, Matthias Maurer, is now officially ESA’s newest astronaut, after graduating during a formal ceremony at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, on 25 September 2018.

Read the article
Astronauts

Welcome to outer space

In the six months that I spent on the International Space Station, it was difficult to find the words or take a picture that would accurately describe the feeling of being in space. Working with Google on my latest mission, I captured Street View imagery to show what the ISS looks like from the inside, and share what it’s like to look down on Earth from outer space.

Read the article
Thomas Pesquet

Thomas Pesquet returns to Earth

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet landed on the steppe of Kazakhstan today with Russian commander Oleg Novitsky in their Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft after six months in space. Touchdown was at 14:10 GMT after a four-hour flight from the International Space Station.

Read the article