COLOGNE, Germany (AP) Five people have suited up in the past year Academically outstanding men and women They were spun in centrifuges, soaked in water for hours, temporarily deprived of oxygen, taught to camp in the snow, and educated in physiology, anatomy, astronomy, meteorology, robotics and the Russian language.
On Monday, five Europeans and one Australian completed basic training and received new titles: astronaut.
At a ceremony in Cologne, Germany, ESA added five new astronauts to its corps, bringing the total to 11 astronauts eligible to fly on missions to the International Space Station.
European Space Agency Administrator Joseph Aschbach said the European Space Agency has been in talks with NASA for three spots on future Artemis lunar missions, although the spots may be awarded to more senior astronauts . The agency also provides service modules for the Orion crew module. ESA relies on NASA and other agencies to send astronauts into space.
This is only the fourth astronaut class the agency has selected since 1978 from 22,500 applicants from 22 countries. Twelve others were selected as reservists but were not sent to basic training. Not surprisingly, the five men’s resumes are filled with advanced science and medical degrees, military training, experience flying airplanes, helicopters, gliders and balloons, as well as boating, scuba diving, hiking, skydiving, biking, sailing and Kayaking and other leisure activities,
Aschbach said the group makes for a very good team with no individual competition. I told them, one of you will fly first and one of you will fly last, and of course they accepted that, but from the heart, not just in words…the team spirit was very evident.
French Air Force helicopter test pilot Sophie Adenot said the team was a great crew and a great team. Her most shocking moment was when leaving the airlock for an underwater spacewalk simulation, the instructor said: Welcome to space.
To me, it was so exciting, I got goosebumps. … In a few years, I will be in space, not in the water with a safety diver.
When she was a girl dreaming of space travel, I can’t tell you how many people told me that this dream would never come true. You have unrealistic dreams that will never come true. …Listen to yourself and don’t listen to those who don’t believe in you.
In addition to Adenot, ESA categories include:
Pablo Alvarez Fernandez was a Spanish aerospace engineer who worked on the Rosalind Franklin Mars probe, which was originally intended to be a joint mission with Russia but ended up in Ukraine Suspended after intrusion;
Rosemary Coogan, British astronomer who studies black hole radiation emission;
Raphael Liegeois, a Belgian biomedical engineer and neuroscientist who studies degenerative neurological diseases and also flies hot air balloons and gliders;
Marco Alain Sieber is a Swiss emergency physician who achieved the rank of sergeant while serving in the Swiss Army as a paratrooper.
The team was also joined by Catherine Bennell-Pegg from Australia, who received training under a cooperation agreement between Australia and ESA. She remains an employee of the Australian Space Agency. Australian agencies should find a way for her to travel to space.
Their year-long basic training includes preparation for the harsh environments encountered in space. They withstood several times the force of gravity in a centrifuge and floated around a modular model of the space station underwater using scuba gear for hours to simulate working in zero gravity.
They learn how to recognize the symptoms of hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, through first-hand experience in a low-pressure chamber. Survival training includes dealing with possible splashdowns in the ocean and staying warm during the winter while waiting to recover if the landing goes off course. The most important are academic work on scientific topics and learning about space station modules and equipment.
Although ESA has suspended cooperation with Russia, except for the space station, where one of the working languages is Russian, strengthening Russian is still part of the plan.
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