ESA title

Exploration

Astronauts

The European Astronaut Corps

These European astronauts in the active astronaut corps have flown or are set to fly to space. Find out more about each astronaut and their activities by clicking on their profile.

Astronauts

ESA Astronaut Class of 2022

In 2022, ESA selected 17 individuals to form a new class of astronauts. Among them, five recently completed their basic training at the European Astronaut Centre in preparation for future space missions. Follow their journey as they train to become the next generation of space explorers.

Podcasts

ESA Explores

Go behind the scenes of exploration and other space topics with astronauts and experts in this official podcast from the European Space Agency.

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Topics

Exploration topics

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration expand our knowledge of the Universe and enhance life on Earth. From missions to the International Space Station (ISS), to ground-based training and future technologies, join ESA in exploring farther.

Podcasts

Road to the stars: Training for the Moon at LUNA

In the first episode of the new ESA Explores series, "Road to the stars," we chat with ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer about the LUNA facility, Europe's Moon on Earth.

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Spaceship EAC

LEGO bricks from space dust

The team of ESA’s Spaceship EAC initiative revived their LEGO-building skills and 3D-printed the famous bricks from lunar regolith and meteor dust, providing a glimpse into how future construction on the Moon might look.

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Moon

Mixing realities for lunar exploration

Anyone who has tried virtual reality (VR) applications knows about its many possibilities: from immersive video games and 360-degree  movies, to virtual museum tours, meetings, or journeys to space – all from the comfort of your home. ESA’s extended reality (XR) lab at the European Astronaut Centre goes one step further and uses virtual, augmented […]

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International Space Station

Happy birthday to you, Electromagnetic Levitator!

This summer marks the ten-year anniversary of the electromagnetic levitation facility on the International Space Station.  Helping to reveal the core physics at play in materials science, the Electromagnetic Levitator (EML) is a furnace in ESA’s Columbus laboratory that can melt metals by induction heating them up to 2200 °C. Scientists can then observe the samples […]

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Podcasts

ESA astronaut class of 2022: Astro Chat with Alexander Gerst

In Episode 8 of this ESA Explores podcast series, we chat with ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst about his role as head of astronaut operations at ESA's European Astronaut Centre, guiding the next generation of space explorers on their adventures.

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Basic astronaut training

Deep dive across the pond

ESA astronaut candidates Sophie Adenot, Rosemary Coogan, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Raphaël Liégeois, and Marco Sieber, alongside Katherine Bennell-Pegg from the Australian Space Agency suited up in scuba gear, plunging into NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) for spacewalk training familiarisation.

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Basic astronaut training

Houston, you’ve got visitors

Last week, members of ESA’s astronaut class of 2022 embarked on their first overseas field trip. They visited NASA’s facilities at the Johnson Space Centre (JSC) in Houston, Texas, USA, to get familiar with the environment where they will spend a significant part of their training once assigned to a mission.

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Moon

Good vibrations for Gateway

The structural model of the communications system that ESA is supplying for NASA’s Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) on the Gateway recently completed a vibrations test to check it will withstand the intense shaking during the launch. The HALO Lunar Communication System (HLCS) is an advanced piece of technology that will enable communication between the […]

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