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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

Closing the loop on Space Station science

Scientist in ESA’s Human Spaceflight programme Elizabeth Heider shares her experiences of a recent science debrief with ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst following the 2018 Horizons mission. The version below has been edited for length. See the full article on LinkedIn.

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Thomas Pesquet

Thomas‘ underwater adventure

Over the next two weeks ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronaut Drew Feustel and Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai will take part in a new NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission off the coast of California, USA, to assess concepts for undersea training that will aid our next steps on the Moon.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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