ESA title
Topic

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.

Astronauts

A year in images for Europe’s human and robotic exploration

Time flies when exploring space.

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Science

Glove is in the air

Ever wondered how astronauts conduct delicate experiments in the harsh environment of space? Gloveboxes—sealed chambers equipped with built-in gloves—allow them to perform groundbreaking research without compromising safety or precision.

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Astronaut portrait - Sławosz Uznański. Credits: ESA - A. Conigli
Sławosz Uznański

Ignis mission name and patch

The Ignis mission, Poland’s first technological and scientific mission to the International Space Station, will include ESA project astronaut Sławosz Uznański. The name derives from the Latin word for ‘fire’ and symbolises the spark igniting a new era in Poland’s space endeavours.   The central motif of the patch features an eagle, referencing Poland’s national emblem. […]

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Astronaut portrait - Sławosz Uznański. Credits: ESA - A. Conigli
Sławosz Uznański

Grasping for space debris solutions

In preparation for his upcoming mission with Axiom Space, ESA project astronaut Sławosz Uznański is getting to grips with a first taste of space exploration during the most recent ESA parabolic flight campaign.

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Podcasts

ESA astronaut class of 2022: Astro Chat with Marco Sieber and Claude Nicollier

In Episode 11 of this ESA Explores podcast series, we chatted with Switzerland’s first and latest ESA astronauts, Claude Nicollier and Marco Sieber.

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International Space Station

2001: a space odyssey for the first European woman on ISS

On this day in 2001, former ESA astronaut Claudie Haigneré became the first European woman to visit the International Space Station.

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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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Moon

Gaming to the Moon

Meet IMPACT, the game that combines science with resource management and city-building elements. Your main goal is to create a lunar base, one building at a time, while contributing to real science research that will help us go back to the Moon.  During this decade and the next, humankind will return to the Moon for […]

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