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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.

Matthias Maurer

Watch live: briefings for next Space Station mission

Learn the latest about the launch of Crew-3 to the International Space Station during two virtual briefings this Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 October live on ESA Web TV Two.

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Matthias Maurer

Countdown to launch with the Cosmic Kiss playlist

Every mission needs music. Now you can get in the mood for Cosmic Kiss with the official ESA playlist!

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Matthias Maurer

Crew-3 target 30 October launch

The targeted launch date for Crew-3 has been brought forward by one day, with NASA and SpaceX now targeting 08:43 CEST (06:43 GMT, 2:43 a.m EDT) Saturday 30 October for the launch of the next SpaceX Crew Dragon to the International Space Station.

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Thomas Pesquet

Aki and Thomas spacewalk – details

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet and JAXA astronaut Aki Hoshide head out for a spacewalk on Sunday 12 September, this is what they will be doing.

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Thomas Pesquet

Fourth spacewalk for Thomas on Alpha mission

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide are set to leave the International Space Station on a spacewalk on Sunday 12 September.

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Matthias Maurer

Watch live: Cosmic Kiss news conference

ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer will soon be launched to the International Space Station for his first mission, ‘Cosmic Kiss’. Tune in to ESA Web TV Two from 9:00 CEST (8:00 BST) to 10:00 CEST (9:00 BST) Thursday 9 September to watch his pre-launch news conference and learn what awaits him in orbit.

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Samantha Cristoforetti

Targeted launch dates for Matthias and Samantha

NASA and SpaceX are continuing plans to launch Crew-3 astronauts to the International Space Station as early as Sunday 31 October, and targeting the return home of Crew-2 astronauts in the early-to-mid November timeframe.

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Matthias Maurer

European science en route to space

Astronauts are preparing to welcome SpaceX’s 23rd Cargo Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station this weekend, complete with European hardware and experiments on board.

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