The French Sophie Adenot and the Belgian Raphaël Liégeois will be the next astronauts of the European Space Agency to travel to the International Space Station, as announced today by the organization’s director general, Josef Aschbacher.
Pablo Álvarez, the first Spanish astronaut in 31 years, who is also part of this promotion, must continue training while waiting to be assigned a flight date. In addition, Spanish biotechnologist Sara García is one of the reserve astronauts who could fly to space in the future if they are assigned a mission.
This first trip to the ISS of the new class will take place in 2026. The rest of the astronauts in this class will also have the opportunity to travel to this base, the only permanently inhabited place in space, before 2030.
“The assignment of Sophie and Raphaël,” said Aschbacher, “is a tangible result of our commitment to maintaining a strong European presence in an international context.” “As exploration activities develop at an unprecedented pace, sending two recently graduated ESA astronauts into space is a crucial step on the path to preserving European knowledge, ensuring Europe’s long-term participation in programs ongoing such as Artemis, as well as any future projects involving spaceflight and human exploration,” he added.
The five new ESA astronauts completed their intense, year-long initial training on April 22, the day they received their official astronaut title. Adenot and Liégeois will be the first of their kind to perform a six-month mission on the space station.
“With Sophie and Raphaël’s assignment to the ISS expeditions, we witness the realization of their lifelong dreams and aspirations, symbolizing both their personal achievements and the collective performance of the team that trained them at the European Astronaut Center. [en Alemania]”said Daniel Neuenschwander, director of Human Exploration and Robotics at ESA. “Today, these two extraordinary individuals will represent ESA as trusted partners on board the Space Station and embody ESA’s competitiveness.”
Born in France in 1982, Adenot is an engineer, helicopter test pilot and colonel in the French Air and Space Force. “It is a tremendous honor to be selected for this mission. I am truly excited to begin a new part of this journey that will allow me to contribute to scientific research and exploration aboard the International Space Station. And to think that I will be able to do it representing France and Europe with the ESA gives a new dimension to this adventure,” she explained.
Liégeois was born in Belgium in 1988 and has a background in biomedical engineering and neuroscience. “Just a month ago, we all gathered to celebrate the end of our basic training, and now, I have the opportunity to be assigned to a mission on the ISS. “I can’t wait to face this new challenge and be able to wear, up there, the colors of Belgium and the ESA,” she commented.
As they advance to the later phases of pre-assignment and mission-specific training, Sophie and Raphaël gain deeper knowledge gained during basic astronaut training, while traveling to all partner sites and preparing for their assigned missions, focusing on specific tasks and experiments to be performed in space.
During their missions on the Space Station, ESA astronauts will carry out numerous scientific experiments, many of them originating in Europe, carry out medical research, contribute to Earth observation and be involved in operational and maintenance tasks on the Station. Space.
The recent graduates of the new class of ESA astronauts are Adenot, Liégeois, Álvarez, the British Rosemary Coogan and the Swiss Marco Sieber. ESA intends for the five new astronauts to undertake missions to the International Space Station by 2030.
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