The European Astronaut Corps is a unit of the

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 (120 ...

(ESA) that selects, trains, and provides

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

s as crew members on U.S. and Russian space missions. The corps has 13 active members, able to serve on the

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

(ISS). The European Astronaut Corps is based at the

European Astronaut Centre The European Astronaut Centre (EAC) (German: Europäisches Astronautenzentrum, French: Centre des astronautes européens), is an establishment of the European Space Agency and home of the European Astronaut Corps. It is near to Cologne, Germany ...

in Cologne, Germany. They can be assigned to various projects both in Europe (at

ESTEC The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) is the European Space Agency's main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology. It is situated in Noordwijk, South Holland, in the western Netherlands, al ...

, for instance) or elsewhere in the world, at

NASA Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late ...

or Star City.

Current members

There are seven active members of the European Astronaut Corps. All of the current members of the corps have flown to space. All flown members have visited the ISS. French astronaut Thomas Pesquet is the member of the corps who has accumulated the most time in space with 396 days 11 hours and 34 minutes. He is the record holder for all the European astronauts in history. The corps currently includes one woman,

Samantha Cristoforetti Samantha Cristoforetti, OMRI (; born in Milan on 26 April 1977) is an Italian European Space Agency astronaut, former Italian Air Force pilot and engineer. She holds the record for the longest uninterrupted spaceflight by a European astronaut ( ...

, who formerly held the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman. Two other women have been members of the corps:

Marianne Merchez Marianne Merchez (born 25 October 1960 in Uccle) is a Belgian doctor from the Catholic University of Louvain and a former European Space Agency astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor ...

who never flew, and

Claudie Haigneré Claudie (André-Deshays) Haigneré (born 13 May 1957) is a French doctor, politician and former astronaut with the Centre National d'Études Spatiales (1985–1999) and the European Space Agency (1999–2002). Background and training Born in ...

who flew on two missions—one to

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

and one to the ISS.

2009 Group

On 3 April 2008, ESA director general

Jean-Jacques Dordain Jean-Jacques Dordain (born 14 April 1946) was Director General of the European Space Agency between 2003 and 2015. Graduating at École Centrale Paris in 1968, Dordain began his scientific career in the French Aerospace Research Agency (ONERA) ...

announced that recruiting for a new class of European astronauts will start in the near future. The selection program for 4 new astronauts was launched on 19 May 2008 with applications due by 16 June 2008 so that final selection would be due spring 2009. Almost 10,000 people registered as astronaut candidates as of 18 June 2008. 8,413 fulfilled the initial application criteria. From these 918 were chosen to take part in the first stage of psychological testing which led to 192 candidates on 24 September 2008. After two stage psychological tests 80 candidates continued on to medical evaluation in January–February 2009. 40 or so candidates head to formal interviews to select four new members to European Astronaut Corps.

2022 Group

Recruitment for the 2022 ESA Astronaut Group took place over 2021-22 and added five "career" astronauts as well as for the first time a "reserve pool" of 11 astronaut candidates, and also a person with a

physical disability A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders, blindness, epil ...

through the "parastronaut feasibility project". The funding by NASA and Russia of the

is currently planned to end in 2030. Thanks to their involvement with NASA's Orion programme, ESA will receive three flight opportunities for European astronauts to the

Lunar Gateway The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is the first planned extraterrestrial space station in lunar orbit intended to serve as a solar-powered communication hub, science laboratory, and short-term habitation module for government-agency astr ...

.Positive signs for Europe as ESA goes forward to the Moon
/ref>

Former members

There are 18 former members of the ESA astronaut corps. Some ESA astronauts were selected by other European agencies and then enrolled into the European Astronaut Corps in 1998.

European astronauts outside of ESA

Interkosmos

Ten Europeans became astronauts within the Soviet Union's

Interkosmos Interkosmos (russian: Интеркосмос) was a Soviet space program, designed to help the Soviet Union's allies with crewed and uncrewed space missions. The program was formed in April 1967 in Moscow. All members of the program from USSR ...

program, which allowed citizens of allied nations to fly missions to the

Salyut 6 Salyut 6 (russian: Салют-6; lit. Salute 6), DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth station of the Salyut programme. It was launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket. Salyut 6 was the first space station to recei ...

Salyut 7 Salyut 7 (russian: Салют-7; en, Salute 7) (a.k.a. DOS-6, short for Durable Orbital Station) was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first crewed in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last ...

and

space station. * Blue male symbol

Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov * Blue male symbol

Jean-Loup Chrétien * Blue male symbol

Bertalan Farkas * Blue male symbol

Mirosław Hermaszewski * Blue male symbol

Georgi Ivanov * Blue male symbol

Sigmund Jähn Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn (; 13 February 1937 – 21 September 2019) was a German cosmonaut and pilot who in 1978 became the first German to fly into space as part of the Soviet Union's Interkosmos programme. Early life Jähn was born on 13 Fe ...

Dumitru Prunariu Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu (; born 27 September 1952) is a Romanian cosmonaut. He flew in space aboard Soyuz 40 spacecraft and Salyut 6 space laboratory. He teamed with the Soviet cosmonaut Leonid Popov. The backup crew was made of Romanian candida ...

Vladimír Remek Vladimír Remek (born 26 September 1948) is a Czech, formerly Czechoslovak, politician and diplomat, as well as a former cosmonaut and military pilot. He flew aboard Soyuz 28 from 2 to 10 March 1978, becoming the first and only Czechoslovak in ...

Helen Sharman Helen Patricia Sharman, CMG, OBE, HonFRSC (born 30 May 1963) is a British chemist and cosmonaut who became the first British person, first Western European woman and first privately funded woman in space, as well as the first woman to visit ...

Franz Viehböck

Space Shuttle

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

trained and flew astronauts from allied nations on the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...

, especially as payload specialists for scientific missions such as

Spacelab Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier ...

. Prior to the foundation of the ESA astronaut corps, both the French

CNES The (CNES; French: ''Centre national d'études spatiales'') is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public administration with industrial and commercial purpose"). Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is und ...

and the German DLR had selected their own rosters of astronauts, notably in preparation for the introduction of the ISS. The following people flew on various Shuttle missions. * Blue male symbol

Patrick Baudry * Blue male symbol

Jean-Jacques Favier * Blue male symbol

Dirk Frimout * Blue male symbol

Reinhard Furrer * Blue male symbol

Leonid Kadeniuk * Blue male symbol

Franco Malerba Franco Egidio Malerba (born 10 October 1946 in Busalla, Metropolitan City of Genoa, Italy) is an Italian astronaut and Member of the European Parliament. He was the first citizen of Italy to travel to space. In 1994, he was elected to the Europea ...

Ulrich Walter Ulrich Hans Walter (born February 9, 1954) is a German physicist, engineer and a former DFVLR astronaut. Education Walter was born in Iserlohn. After finishing secondary school there and two years in the Bundeswehr, he studied physics at the U ...

Mir

The following people flew on missions to

under agreements between their nations and Russia. * Blue male symbol

Ivan Bella * Blue male symbol

Klaus-Dietrich Flade Klaus-Dietrich Flade (born 23 August 1952) is a German pilot and former German Aerospace Center astronaut who visited the Mir space station in 1992 aboard the Soyuz TM-14 mission, returning to Earth a week later aboard Soyuz TM-13. Biography Bo ...

Space Shuttle missions

Astronauts from the European Astronaut Corps participated in several

missions before the ISS era, in particular as

Payload Specialists. NASA considered the full-time ESA astronauts as payload specialists, but offered some the opportunity to train with its own astronauts and become NASA mission specialists. ''(This list excludes missions to Mir or the ISS)''

As Payload Specialists

* Ulf Merbold –

STS-9 STS-9 (also referred to Spacelab 1) was the ninth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the sixth mission of the Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. Launched on 28 November 1983, the ten-day mission carried the first Spacelab laboratory module into orbit. ...

(

STS-42 STS-42 was a NASA Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' mission with the Spacelab module. Liftoff was originally scheduled for 8:45 EST (13:45 UTC) on January 22, 1992, but the launch was delayed due to weather constraints. ''Discovery'' successfully ...

(Spacelab) * Reinhard Furrer – STS-61-A (Spacelab-D1 Mission) * Wubbo Ockels – STS-61-A (Spacelab-D1 Mission) * Hans Schlegel –

STS-55 STS-55, or Deutschland 2 (D-2), was the 55th overall flight of the NASA Space Shuttle and the 14th flight of Shuttle ''Columbia''. This flight was a multinational Spacelab flight involving 88 experiments from eleven different nations. The exper ...

(Spacelab-D2 Mission) * Ulrich Walter –

(Spacelab-D2 Mission)

As Mission Specialists

* Claude Nicollier –

STS-46 STS-46 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission using and was launched on July 31, 1992, and landed on August 8, 1992. Crew Backup crew Crew seating arrangements Mission highlights The mission's primary objectives were the deployment of ...

, STS-61 ( Hubble),

STS-75 STS-75 was a 1996 NASA Space Shuttle mission, the 19th mission of the ''Columbia'' orbiter. Crew Allen, Hoffman, Nicollier and Chang-Díaz had previously been members of the STS-46 crew, which had flown the TSS-1 experiment in 1992. Mission ...

, STS-103 (Hubble) * Maurizio Cheli –

* Jean-François Clervoy – STS-66, STS-103 (Hubble) * Gerhard Thiele –

STS-99 STS-99 was a Space Shuttle mission using ''Endeavour'', that launched on 11 February 2000 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The primary objective of the mission was the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) project. This was also the last s ...

* Pedro Duque –

STS-95 STS-95 was a Space Shuttle mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 29 October 1998, using the orbiter ''Discovery''. It was the 25th flight of ''Discovery'' and the 92nd mission flown since the start of the Space Shuttle program ...

Missions to the Mir space stations

Astronauts from Europe have flown to

both on board

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз ( Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...

vehicles (as part of the

Euromir Euromir was an international space programme in the 1990s. Between the Russian Federal Space Agency and the European Space Agency (ESA), it would bring European astronauts to the Mir space station. Euromir was part of a drive in the early 1990 ...

programme) or on board the

. * Jean-Loup Chrétien – '' Aragatz'' (1988) *

– Project Juno (1991) * Franz Viehböck – Austromir '91 (1991) *

– ''Mir'' '92 (1992) * Michel Tognini – ''

Antarès Antarès is an indoor sporting arena that is located in Le Mans, France. The arena is located inside the Circuit de la Sarthe, home of the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans, and adjacent to the first right kink on the Mulsanne Straight. The seating cap ...

'' (1992) * Jean-Pierre Haigneré – ''

Altair Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila and the twelfth-brightest star in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Aquilae, which is Latinised from α Aquilae and abbreviated Alpha Aql o ...

'' (1993) *

Ulf Merbold Ulf Dietrich Merbold (born June 20, 1941) is a German physicist and astronaut who flew to space three times, becoming the first West German citizen in space and the first non-American to fly on a NASA spacecraft. Merbold flew on two Space Shu ...

– Euromir '94 (1994) *

Thomas Reiter Thomas Arthur Reiter (born 23 May 1958 in Frankfurt, West Germany) is a retired European astronaut and is a Brigadier General in the German Air Force currently working as ESA Interagency Coordinator and Advisor to the Director General at the ...

– Euromir '95 (1995) *

– ''

Cassiopée Cassiopée (born 16 October 1977) is a francophone Canadian singer and entertainer. Since 2011, she has played the lead female character Lia in Cirque du Soleil show, ''Zarkana''. She also plays three of the four other female parts in the produ ...

'' (1996) *

Reinhold Ewald Reinhold Ewald (born 18 December 1956) is a German physicist and ESA astronaut. Biography Born in Mönchengladbach, West Germany, he received a Diploma in experimental physics from the University of Cologne in 1983 and a Ph.D. in 1986, with a m ...

– ''Mir'' '97 (1997) * Jean-Loup Chrétien –

STS-86 STS-86 was a Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' mission to the Mir space station. This was the last ''Atlantis'' mission before it was taken out of service temporarily for maintenance and upgrades, including the glass cockpit. Crew Spacewalk *'' Pa ...

(1997) *

Léopold Eyharts Léopold "Leo" Eyharts (born April 28, 1957) is a French Brigadier General in the French Air Force, an engineer and ESA astronaut. He has flown to space two times as part of a Mir expedition and an International Space Station expedition. Eyhar ...

– '' Pégase'' (1998) * Jean-Pierre Haigneré – ''

Perseus In Greek mythology, Perseus ( /ˈpɜːrsiəs, -sjuːs/; Greek: Περσεύς, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus and Bellerophon, the greatest Greek hero and slayer ...

'' (1999) * Ivan Bella – '' Stefanik'' (1999)

Missions to the International Space Station

European astronauts to have visited the ISS are:

Future Missions to the International Space Station

Future European astronauts to the ISS are:

References

External links

The European Astronaut Corps
{{European manned spaceflight European Space Agency Lists of astronauts European astronauts Human spaceflight programs