Dr. David Green, who coordinated the team days together with Marieke Morawietz, said: “We at EAC felt it important that those who worked so hard, in such challenging circumstances, got the opportunity to experience EAC, to connect with their peers and the teams they supported, but also that we all took a moment to capture and reflect on the progress that was made whilst working remotely, in order to ensure that we take the appropriate next steps with a new generation of interns.”
Therefore, the interns who worked remotely from countries such as France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK were invited to EAC to meet and to share their experiences with each other and members of the Space Medicine Team in ways that online meetings struggle to replace.
Former remote intern and medical student Milad Dulloo described visiting the facilities of EAC for the first time as a “quite magical moment”: “It was a dream come true to work as a remote intern for ESA. Finally seeing the EAC facilities and my fellow interns in 3D and not just in pictures and videos changed the whole experience.”
During the two-day event, the group of young professionals got to present the projects they have been working on during their internships. The topics ranged from a systematic review evaluating what we can learn about the radiation risks of going beyond Low Earth Orbit, a technical analysis of a novel technique to measure metabolism in space, to a study evaluating a special spacesuit to prevent back pain in weightlessness in addition to a host of other important elements geared towards supporting the wellbeing of astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) and beyond. Unsurprisingly the presentations led to engaging and dynamic discussions.
“The presentations were one of the best parts during the team days” said intern Marta Hasny from the Technical University of Munich. “As a student in Biomedical Computing I have a more technical background. To hear about the interesting projects other interns in the Space Medicine Team are working on, was fascinating and inspiring to me’’.
The remote interns not just got to meet each other, but through talks and tours also got an impression of the work done at the home to ESA’s astronaut corps. This included a visit of EAC’s training hall providing Columbus laboratory and payload training to astronauts, the EUROCOM console and the Neutral Buoyancy Facility, as well as world-class research facilities of the neighbouring Institute of Aerospace Medicine of the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
Group picture of participants of the Space Medicine ESA team days in EAC’s Training Hall. Credits: ESA-N.Ivanova
At the end of the event the students were invited to celebrate ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti becoming the first European female commander on the ISS. Multitalented intern and Computer Vision Engineer Alexandru Vasile managed to play a little greeting for Samantha on his guitar.
“Being at EAC and meeting all the inspiring people working here was a great closure of my internship and made the whole experience a little bit more real” explained the former intern and nutritionist for extreme environments Christina-Ariadni Valagkouti. “I am glad that I had the chance to contribute to supporting the wellbeing of Astronauts for upcoming missions.”
Meet more EAC students and their exciting internship projects here.