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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

(English) Watch live: briefings for next Space Station mission

(English) 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

(English) Countdown to launch with the Cosmic Kiss playlist

(English) 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

(English) Crew-3 target 30 October launch

(English) 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

(English) Aki and Thomas spacewalk – details

(English) 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

(English) Fourth spacewalk for Thomas on Alpha mission

(English) 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

(English) Watch live: Cosmic Kiss news conference

(English) 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

(English) Targeted launch dates for Matthias and Samantha

(English) 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

(English) European science en route to space

(English) 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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