Marcus Wandt (born September 22, 1980) is a Swedish test pilot and member of the

2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group The 2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group is the latest class of the European Astronaut Corps. The selection recruited five "career" astronauts, 11 "reserve" and one "astronaut with a physical disability". It is the fourth European Space Agen ...

Pre-ESA Career

From 2003 to 2014, Wandt was a fighter pilot in the

Swedish Air Force The Swedish Air Force ( sv, Svenska flygvapnet or just ) is the air force branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. History The Swedish Air Force was created on 1 July, 1926 when the aircraft units of the Army and Navy were merged. Because of the es ...

. In 2004, he joined the Swedish Air Force Flying Training School, where he received basic flight training. He received a master's degree in electrical engineering from

Chalmers University of Technology Chalmers University of Technology ( sv, Chalmers tekniska högskola, often shortened to Chalmers) is a Swedish university located in Gothenburg that conducts research and education in technology and natural sciences at a high international level ...

in 2007. From 2013 to 2014, he trained at the

United States Naval Test Pilot School The United States Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS), located at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River in Patuxent River, Maryland, provides instruction to experienced United States Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, and foreign military experi ...

where he graduated at the top of his class to become an experimental test pilot. In 2014 he joined SAAB Aeronautics as an experimental test pilot, before being promoted to chief test pilot and head of flight operations in 2020.

ESA career

In November 2022, Wandt was chosen as a member of ESA class of reserve astronauts and June 2023, ESA proposed Marcus Wandt for an upcoming flight from

Axiom Mission 3 Axiom Mission 3 (or Ax-3) is a planned private spaceflight to the International Space Station. The flight, scheduled to launch no earlier than January 2024, and expected to last about 14 days, will be operated by Axiom Space and be using a Crew ...

. As a consequence he transitioned from reserve to "project astronaut" status. He will be the first of any of the 2022 ESA astronauts to undertake a mission. His mission is to be called "Muninn" and will coincide with the "Huginn" mission of Danish

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

astronaut

Andreas Mogensen Andreas Enevold Mogensen (born 2 November 1976) is a Danish engineer and ESA astronaut who is best known for being the first Dane to fly in space as part of the European Space Agency's iriss program. Mogensen has also been involved in a number of ...

aboard the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

Huginn and Muninn In Norse mythology, Huginn (Old Norse: "thought"Orchard (1997:92).) and Muninn (Old Norse "memory"Orchard (1997:115). or "mind"Lindow (2001:186).) are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring information to the god Odin. H ...

are a pair of ravens in Norse mythology.

References

1980 births Living people Swedish astronauts Chalmers University of Technology alumni {{Astronaut-stub