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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 Marco Sieber. Credit: ESA – A. Conigli
Marco Sieber
Marcus Wandt
Matthias Maurer
Portrait of ESA astronaut Pablo Álvarez Fernández. Credit: ESA – A. Conigli
Pablo Álvarez Fernández
Portrait of ESA astronaut Raphaël Liégeois. Credit: ESA – A. Conigli
Raphaël Liégeois
Portrait of ESA astronaut Rosemary Coogan. Credit: ESA – A. Conigli
Rosemary Coogan
Samantha Cristoforetti
Astronaut portrait - Sławosz Uznański. Credits: ESA - A. Conigli
Sławosz Uznański
Portrait of ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot. Credit: ESA – A. Conigli
Sophie Adenot
Thomas Pesquet
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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Luca Parmitano

A chance in the shadow

Posted on Tuesday March 17th, 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 first post of a two-part blog series he gives his tips for life in isolation.

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Thomas Pesquet

Thomas starts training for second space mission

Posted on Wednesday March 11th, 2020 by Ally

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet has his bags packed for Houston, USA, and at the end of this month, he’ll begin training for ESA’s next mission to the International Space Station.

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Luca Parmitano

Replay: Luca’s first post-Beyond news conference

Posted on Saturday February 8th, 2020 by Ally

Watch ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano speak with media at ESA's European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany following his 201-day Beyond mission on the International Space Station. Please note: content is a mix of English and Italian.

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Luca Parmitano

A record-breaking astronaut returns to terra firma

Posted on Thursday February 6th, 2020 by Ally

ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano is back on Earth after touching down in the Russian Soyuz MS-13 crew module at 09:12 GMT (10:12 CET) Thursday 6 February.

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Luca Parmitano

Fourth #SpacewalkForAMS: latest updates

Posted on Saturday January 25th, 2020 by Ally

ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan are performing the fourth in a series of complex spacewalks to maintain the cosmic ray detecting Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS-02 today – 25 January 2020. It is the third spacewalk of 2020, the sixth for Luca and the ninth spacewalk for Expedition 61 crew – the most ever performed during a single expedition.

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Luca Parmitano

Watch Luca’s final #SpacewalkForAMS

Posted on Thursday January 23rd, 2020 by Ally

ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan will exit the International Space Station airlock together for the fourth time Saturday 25 January. It is the ninth spacewalk for Expedition 61 – the most spacewalks ever performed during a single Space Station expedition – and the last in a complex series to maintain the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS-02.

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