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.

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-Wiśniewski
Portrait of ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot. Credit: ESA – A. Conigli
Sophie Adenot
Thomas Pesquet
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.

Basic astronaut training
John McFall during astronaut training at EAC
Fly! project
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.

International Space Station
Mars
Moon
Operations
Podcasts
Science
Spaceship EAC
Spacewalking
Training
Science

7 things you didn’t know about ACES

Posted on Thursday April 17th, 2025 by Marie Deschamps

In just a few days, ESA’s Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space (ACES) will launch to the International Space Station, carrying the most accurate timepieces ever sent to orbit. This pioneering mission is set to revolutionise timekeeping, enabling ultra-precise global time synchronisation and opening up new frontiers in fundamental physics research.  Here are 7 things you […]

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Moon

Meet Sara Pastor, ESA’s Lunar Projects Group Leader

Posted on Thursday March 6th, 2025 by Marie Deschamps

Born in Italy, Sara Pastor graduated in Aerospace Engineering from Politecnico di Torino in 1998. After a brief experience in the automotive industry, she worked in Alenia Space in Turin (now Thales Alenia Space), before moving to ESA in 2003 at its technical site in the Netherlands. Initially, Sara worked on the preparation of ESA’s […]

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Moon

Argonaut: a lunar ship

Posted on Thursday February 27th, 2025 by Marie Deschamps

ESA’s Argonaut represents Europe’s autonomous and versatile access to the Moon, supporting international exploration endeavours on the lunar surface. The spacecraft will support several missions to the Moon, launching aboard a four-booster Ariane 6 in the next decade.  The spacecraft has two main elements: the Lunar Descent Element, which takes care of flying to the […]

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Podcasts

Road to the stars: Training for the Moon at LUNA

Posted on Monday October 21st, 2024 by Laura

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

Posted on Friday June 28th, 2024 by Laura

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

Posted on Friday June 14th, 2024 by Laura

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!

Posted on Friday May 17th, 2024 by Marie Deschamps

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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