European Astronaut Corps

The European Astronaut Corps is a unit of the European Space Agency (ESA) that selects, trains, and provides astronauts as crew members on U.S. and Russian space missions. The corps has 13 active members, able to serve on the International Space Station (ISS). The European Astronaut Corps is based at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. They can be assigned to various projects both in Europe (at ESTEC, for instance) or elsewhere in the world, at NASA Johnson Space Center or Star City.

History

This section is an excerpt from European Space Agency § Formation and development.[edit]

Ulf Merbold became the first ESA astronaut to fly into space.

At the time the ESA was formed, its main goals did not encompass human space flight; rather it considered itself to be primarily a scientific research organisation for uncrewed space exploration in contrast to its American and Soviet counterparts. It is therefore not surprising that the first non-Soviet European in space was not an ESA astronaut on a European space craft; it was Czechoslovak Vladimír Remek who in 1978 became the first non-Soviet or American in space (the first man in space being Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union) – on a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft, followed by the Pole Mirosław Hermaszewski and East German Sigmund Jähn in the same year. This Soviet co-operation programme, known as Intercosmos, primarily involved the participation of Eastern bloc countries. In 1982, however, Jean-Loup Chrétien became the first non-Communist Bloc astronaut on a flight to the Soviet Salyut 7 space station.

Because Chrétien did not officially fly into space as an ESA astronaut, but rather as a member of the French CNES astronaut corps, the German Ulf Merbold is considered the first ESA astronaut to fly into space. He participated in the STS-9 Space Shuttle mission that included the first use of the European-built Spacelab in 1983. STS-9 marked the beginning of an extensive ESA/NASA joint partnership that included dozens of space flights of ESA astronauts in the following years. Some of these missions with Spacelab were fully funded and organisationally and scientifically controlled by the ESA (such as two missions by Germany and one by Japan) with European astronauts as full crew members rather than guests on board. Beside paying for Spacelab flights and seats on the shuttles, the ESA continued its human space flight co-operation with the Soviet Union and later Russia, including numerous visits to Mir.

During the latter half of the 1980s, European human space flights changed from being the exception to routine and therefore, in 1990, the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany was established. It selects and trains prospective astronauts and is responsible for the co-ordination with international partners, especially with regard to the International Space Station. As of 2006, the ESA astronaut corps officially included twelve members, including nationals from most large European countries except the United Kingdom.

In 2008, the ESA started to recruit new astronauts so that final selection would be due in spring 2009. Almost 10,000 people registered as astronaut candidates before registration ended in June 2008. 8,413 fulfilled the initial application criteria. Of the applicants, 918 were chosen to take part in the first stage of psychological testing, which narrowed down the field to 192. After two-stage psychological tests and medical evaluation in early 2009, as well as formal interviews, six new members of the European Astronaut Corps were selected – five men and one woman.^[1]

Current members

As of 2024 there are eleven active members of the European Astronaut Corps. Five were selected in 2009, one was selected in 2015, and the remaining five selected in 2022.

Name	Country	Selection	Time in space	Missions
Samantha Cristoforetti	Italy	2009 ESA Group	370d 5h 45m	Soyuz TMA-15M (Expedition 42/43), Crew-4 (Expedition 67/68)
Alexander Gerst	Germany	2009 ESA Group	362d 1h 50m	Soyuz TMA-13M (Expedition 40/41), Soyuz MS-09 (Expedition 56/57)
Andreas Mogensen	Denmark	2009 ESA Group	208d 22h 34m	Soyuz TMA-18M/16M, Crew-7 (Expedition 69/70)
Luca Parmitano	Italy	2009 ESA Group	366d 23h 1m	Soyuz TMA-09M (Expedition 36/37), Soyuz MS-13 (Expedition 60/61)
Thomas Pesquet	France	2009 ESA Group	396d 11h 34m	Soyuz MS-03 (Expedition 50/51), Crew-2 (Expedition 65/66)
Matthias Maurer	Germany	2015 ESA Group	176d 2h 39m	Crew-3 (Expedition 66/67)
Rosemary Coogan	United Kingdom	2022 ESA Group	0d 0h 0m	N/A
Sophie Adenot	France	2022 ESA Group	0d 0h 0m	N/A
Pablo Álvarez Fernández	Spain	2022 ESA Group	0d 0h 0m	N/A
Raphaël Liégeois	Belgium	2022 ESA Group	0d 0h 0m	N/A
Marco Sieber	Switzerland	2022 ESA Group	0d 0h 0m	N/A

All of the current members of the corps, other than the 2022 ESA Group, have flown to space and 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, who formerly held the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman. Timothy Peake, a member of the 2009 group, retired in 2023.^[2]

2009 Group

On 3 April 2008, ESA director general Jean-Jacques Dordain announced that recruiting for a new class of European astronauts will start in the near future.^[3] The selection program for 4 new astronauts was launched on 19 May 2008 with applications due by 16 June 2008^{[citation needed]} so that final selection would be due spring 2009.^[4] 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.^[4]

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 through the "parastronaut feasibility project".^[5][6]

In June 2023, Marcus Wandt, originally a reserve astronaut, was selected for Axiom Space mission and transitioned to "project" astronaut.^[7] This later was set in place for Polish reserve astronaut Sławosz Uznański.

Name	Country	Role
Sophie Adenot[8]	France	Career astronaut
Pablo Álvarez Fernández[9]	Spain	Career astronaut
Rosemary Coogan[10]	United Kingdom	Career astronaut
Raphaël Liégeois[11]	Belgium	Career astronaut
Marco Alain Sieber[12]	Switzerland	Career astronaut
John McFall[13]	United Kingdom	Parastronaut
Meganne Christian[14]	United Kingdom	Astronaut reserve
Anthea Comellini[15]	Italy	Astronaut reserve
Sara García Alonso[16]	Spain	Astronaut reserve
Andrea Patassa[17]	Italy	Astronaut reserve
Carmen Possnig[18]	Austria	Astronaut reserve
Arnaud Prost[19]	France	Astronaut reserve
Amelie Schoenenwald[20]	Germany	Astronaut reserve
Aleš Svoboda[21]	Czech Republic	Astronaut reserve
Sławosz Uznański[22]	Poland	Project astronaut
Marcus Wandt[23]	Sweden	Project astronaut
Nicola Winter[24]	Germany	Astronaut reserve

The funding by NASA and Russia of the International Space Station 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.^[25]

Former members

There are 18 former members of the ESA astronaut corps.^[26]

Some ESA astronauts were selected by other European agencies and then enrolled into the European Astronaut Corps in 1998.

Name	Country	Selection	Time in space	Missions
Hans Schlegel	Germany	1987 DLR Group	22d 18h 01m	STS-55, STS-122
André Kuipers	Netherlands	1998 ESA Group	203d 15h 50m	Soyuz TMA-4/3, Soyuz TMA-03M (Expedition 30/31)
Christer Fuglesang	Sweden	1992 ESA Group	26d 17h 37m	STS-116, STS-128
Léopold Eyharts	France	1990 CNES Group	68d 21h 28m	Soyuz TM-27/26, STS-122/123 (Expedition 16)
Jean-François Clervoy	France	1992 ESA Group	28d 03h 04m	STS-66, STS-84, STS-103
Maurizio Cheli	Italy	1992 ESA Group	15d 17h 41m	STS-75
Pedro Duque	Spain	1992 ESA Group	18d 18h 46m	STS-95, Soyuz TMA-3/2
Reinhold Ewald	Germany	1990 DLR Group	19d 16h 34m	Soyuz TM-25/24
Umberto Guidoni	Italy	1989 ASI Group	27d 15h 10m	STS-75, STS-100
Claudie Haigneré née André-Deshays	France	1985 CNES Group	25d 14h 22m	Soyuz TM-24/23, Soyuz TM-33/32
Jean-Pierre Haigneré	France	1985 CNES Group	209d 12h 24m	Soyuz TM-17/16, Soyuz TM-29 (Mir EO-27)
Ulf Merbold	Germany	1978 ESA Group	49d 21h 36m	STS-9, STS-42, Soyuz TM-20/19 (Euromir 94)
Marianne Merchez	Belgium	1992 ESA Group	N/A	N/A
Ernst Messerschmid	West Germany	1982 DLR Group	7d 00h 44m	STS-61-A
Paolo Nespoli	Italy	1998 ESA Group	313d 02h 36m	STS-120, Soyuz TMA-20 (Expedition 26/27), Soyuz MS-05 (Expedition 52/53)
Claude Nicollier	Switzerland	1978 ESA Group	42d 12h 03m	STS-46, STS-61, STS-75, STS-103
Wubbo Ockels	Netherlands	1978 ESA Group	7d 00h 44m	STS-61-A
Philippe Perrin	France	1990 CNES Group	13d 20h 35m	STS-111
Thomas Reiter	Germany	1992 ESA Group	350d 05h 35m	Soyuz TM-22 (Mir EO-20), STS-121/116 (Expedition 13/14)
Gerhard Thiele	Germany	1987 DLR Group	11d 05h 38m	STS-99
Michel Tognini	France	1985 CNES Group	18d 17h 45m	Soyuz TM-15/14, STS-93
Frank de Winne	Belgium	1998 ESA Group	198d 17h 34m	Soyuz TMA-1/TM-34, Soyuz TMA-15 (Expedition 20/21)
Roberto Vittori	Italy	1998 ESA Group	35d 12h 26m	Soyuz TM-34/33, Soyuz TMA-6/5, STS-134
Timothy Peake	United Kingdom	2009 ESA Group	185d 22h 11m	Soyuz TMA-19M (Expedition 46/47)

European astronauts outside of ESA

Interkosmos

Ten Europeans became astronauts within the Soviet Union's Interkosmos program, which allowed citizens of allied nations to fly missions to the Salyut 6, Salyut 7 and Mir space station.

• Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov
• Jean-Loup Chrétien
• Bertalan Farkas
• Mirosław Hermaszewski
• Georgi Ivanov
• Sigmund Jähn
• Dumitru Prunariu
• Vladimír Remek
• Helen Sharman
• Franz Viehböck

Space Shuttle

NASA trained and flew astronauts from allied nations on the Space Shuttle, especially as payload specialists for scientific missions such as Spacelab. Prior to the foundation of the ESA astronaut corps, both the French CNES 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.^[a]

• Patrick Baudry
• Jean-Jacques Favier
• Dirk Frimout
• Reinhard Furrer
• Leonid Kadeniuk
• Franco Malerba
• Ulrich Walter

1. Other European astronauts who flew on the Space Shuttle were transferred to the ESA astronaut corps, and are listed above.

Russian Mir missions

The following people flew on missions to Mir under agreements between their nations and Russia.

• Ivan Bella
• Klaus-Dietrich Flade

Space Shuttle missions

Astronauts from the European Astronaut Corps participated in several NASA Space Shuttle missions before the ISS era, in particular as Spacelab 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.^[27] (This list excludes missions to Mir or the ISS)

As Payload Specialists

• Ulf Merbold – STS-9 (Spacelab), STS-42 (Spacelab)
• Reinhard Furrer – STS-61-A (Spacelab-D1 Mission)
• Wubbo Ockels – STS-61-A (Spacelab-D1 Mission)
• Hans Schlegel – STS-55 (Spacelab-D2 Mission)
• Ulrich Walter – STS-55 (Spacelab-D2 Mission)

As Mission Specialists

• Claude Nicollier – STS-46, STS-61 (Hubble Space Telescope) [STS-75]], STS-103 (Hubble)
• Maurizio Cheli – STS-75
• Jean-François Clervoy – STS-66, STS-103 (Hubble)
• Gerhard Thiele – STS-99
• Pedro Duque – STS-95

Missions to the Mir space stations

Astronauts from Europe have flown to Mir both on board Soyuz vehicles (as part of the Euromir programme) or on board the Space Shuttle.^[28]

• Jean-Loup Chrétien – Aragatz (1988)  France
• Helen Sharman – Project Juno (1991)  UK
• Franz Viehböck – Austromir '91 (1991)  Austria
• Klaus-Dietrich Flade – Mir '92 (1992)  Germany
• Michel Tognini – Antarès (1992)  France
• Jean-Pierre Haigneré – Altair (1993)  France
• Ulf Merbold – Euromir '94 (1994)  Germany
• Thomas Reiter – Euromir '95 (1995)  Germany
• Claudie Haigneré – Cassiopée (1996)  France
• Reinhold Ewald – Mir '97 (1997)  Germany
• Jean-Loup Chrétien – STS-86 (1997)  France
• Léopold Eyharts – Pégase (1998)  France
• Jean-Pierre Haigneré – Perseus (1999)  France
• Ivan Bella – Stefanik (1999)  Slovakia

Missions to the International Space Station

European astronauts to have visited the ISS are:

Astronaut	Agency	Mission	Launch	Return	Expedition	Launch Date	Return Date	Note
Umberto Guidoni	ESA		STS-100	STS-100	Expedition 2	19 Apr 2001	1 May 2001	Flight 6A with MPLM Raffaello, visited Expedition 2 crew
Claudie Haigneré	CNES	Andromède	Soyuz TM-33	Soyuz TM-32	Expedition 3	21 Oct 2001	31 Oct 2001	Visited Expedition 3 crew
Roberto Vittori	ESA	Marco Polo	Soyuz TM-34	Soyuz TM-33	Expedition 4	25 Apr 2002	5 May 2002	Visited Expedition 4 crew
Philippe Perrin	CNES		STS-111	STS-111	Expedition 4/5	5 Jun 2002	19 Jun 2002	ISS Assembly Flight UF-2, launched with Expedition 5 crew and landed with Expedition 4 crew
Frank De Winne	ESA	Odissea	Soyuz TMA-1	Soyuz TM-34	Expedition 5	30 Oct 2002	10 Nov 2002	Visited Expedition 5 crew
Pedro Duque	ESA	Cervantes	Soyuz TMA-3	Soyuz TMA-2	Expedition 7/8	18 Oct 2003	28 Oct 2003	Launched with Expedition 8 crew landed with Expedition 7 crew,
André Kuipers	ESA	DELTA	Soyuz TMA-4	Soyuz TMA-3	Expedition 8/9	19 Apr 2004	30 Apr 2004	Launched with Expedition 8 crew, landed with Expedition 8 crew
Roberto Vittori	ESA	Eneide	Soyuz TMA-6	Soyuz TMA-5	Expedition 10/11	15 Apr 2005	24 Apr 2005	Launched with Expedition 11 crew, landed with Expedition 10 crew
Thomas Reiter	ESA	Astrolab	STS-121	STS-116	Expedition 13/14	4 Jul 2006	22 Dec 2006	ISS Assembly Flight ULF 1.1, first European to live on the ISS as flight engineer on Expedition 13 and 14
Christer Fuglesang	ESA	Celsius	STS-116	STS-116	Expedition 14	10 Dec 2006	22 Dec 2006	ISS Assembly Flight 12A.1, visited Expedition 14 crew
Paolo Nespoli	ESA	Esperia	STS-120	STS-120	Expedition 16	23 Oct 2007	7 Nov 2007	ISS Assembly Flight 10A, visited Expedition 16 crew
Hans Schlegel	ESA	Columbus	STS-122	STS-122	Expedition 16	7 Feb 2008	20 Feb 2008	ISS Assembly Flight 1E, visited Expedition 16 crew
Léopold Eyharts	ESA	Columbus	STS-122	STS-123	Expedition 16	7 Feb 2008	27 Mar 2008	ISS Assembly Flight 1E, second European to live on the ISS as flight engineer on Expedition 16
Frank De Winne	ESA	OasISS	Soyuz TMA-15	Soyuz TMA-15	Expedition 20/21	27 May 2009	1 Dec 2009	Flight engineer on Expedition 20, first European to command the ISS as commander of Expedition 21
Christer Fuglesang	ESA	AlISSé	STS-128	STS-128	Expedition 20	29 Aug 2009	12 Sep 2009	ISS Assembly Flight 17A, visited Expedition 20 crew
Paolo Nespoli	ESA	MagISStra	Soyuz TMA-20	Soyuz TMA-20	Expedition 26/27	15 Dec 2010	24 May 2011	Flight engineer on Expedition 26 and 27
Roberto Vittori	ESA	DAMA	STS-134	STS-134	Expedition 27/28	16 May 2011	1 Jun 2011	Visited Expedition 27 and 28
André Kuipers	ESA	PromISSe	Soyuz TMA-03M	Soyuz TMA-03M	Expedition 30/31	21 Dec 2011	1 Jul 2012	Flight engineer on Expedition 30 and 31
Luca Parmitano	ESA	Volare	Soyuz TMA-09M	Soyuz TMA-09M	Expedition 36/37	28 May 2013	11 Nov 2013	Flight engineer on Expedition 36 and 37, first member of the 2009 ESA astronaut class to fly
Alexander Gerst	ESA	Blue Dot	Soyuz TMA-13M	Soyuz TMA-13M	Expedition 40/41	28 May 2014	10 Nov 2014	Flight engineer on Expedition 40 and 41
Samantha Cristoforetti	ESA	Futura	Soyuz TMA-15M	Soyuz TMA-15M	Expedition 42/43	23 Nov 2014	11 Jun 2015	Flight engineer on Expedition 42 and 43, Longest uninterrupted spaceflight of a European astronaut
Andreas Mogensen	ESA	IrISS[29]	Soyuz TMA-18M	Soyuz TMA-16M	Expedition 44	2 Sep 2015	12 Sep 2015	Visited Expedition 44 crew, first Danish astronaut
Timothy Peake	ESA	Principia[30]	Soyuz TMA-19M	Soyuz TMA-19M	Expedition 46/47	15 Dec 2015	18 June 2016	Flight engineer on Expedition 46 and 47
Thomas Pesquet	ESA	Proxima[31]	Soyuz MS-03	Soyuz MS-03	Expedition 50/51	17 Nov 2016	16 May 2017	Flight engineer on Expedition 50 and 51
Paolo Nespoli[32]	ESA	Vita	Soyuz MS-05	Soyuz MS-05	Expedition 52/53	28 July 2017	14 December 2017	Flight engineer on Expedition 52 and 53
Alexander Gerst	ESA	Horizons	Soyuz MS-09	Soyuz MS-09	Expedition 56/57	6 June 2018	20 December 2018	Flight engineer on Expedition 56, second European to command the ISS as commander of Expedition 57
Luca Parmitano	ESA	Beyond	Soyuz MS-13	Soyuz MS-13	Expedition 60/61	20 July 2019	6 February 2020	Flight engineer on Expedition 60, third European to command the ISS as commander of Expedition 61
Thomas Pesquet	ESA	Alpha	SpaceX Crew-2	SpaceX Crew-2	Expedition 65/66	23 April 2021	9 November 2021	Flight engineer on Expedition 65, fourth European to command the ISS as commander of the final part of Expedition 65 and the first part of Expedition 66.
Matthias Maurer	ESA	Cosmic Kiss	SpaceX Crew-3	SpaceX Crew-3	Expedition 66/67	11 November 2021	6 May 2022	Flight engineer on Expedition 66 and 67
Samantha Cristoforetti	ESA	Minerva	SpaceX Crew-4	SpaceX Crew-4	Expedition 67/68	27 Apr 2022	14 Oct 2022	Flight engineer on Expedition 67, fifth European to command the ISS as commander of the first part of Expedition 68.
Andreas Mogensen	ESA	Huginn[33]	SpaceX Crew-7	SpaceX Crew-7	Expeditions 69/70	26 August 2023	12 March 2024	First non-American astronaut to pilot a United States spacecraft. Sixth European to command the ISS as commander of the first part of Expedition 70.
Marcus Wandt	ESA (Project)	Muninn[34]	Axiom Mission 3	Axiom Mission 3	Visiting	18 January 2024[35]	9 February 2024	First ESA Astronaut on a private mission to ISS, first from the 2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group to fly in space, First ESA project astronaut, fastest-trained astronaut in history after selection to fly into orbit.

Future missions to the International Space Station

Future European astronauts to the ISS are:

Astronaut	Agency	Mission	Launch	Return	Expedition	Launch Date	Return Date	Note
Sławosz Uznański	ESA (Project)	TBA	Axiom Mission 4[36]	Axiom Mission 4	Visiting	Q2 2025	Q2 2025	Second ESA Astronaut on a private mission to ISS.

See also

• Other astronaut corps:
  • Canadian Astronaut Corps
  • NASA Astronaut Corps (United States)
  • JAXA Astronaut Corps (Japan)
  • Roscosmos Cosmonaut Corps (Russia)
  • People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (China)
• List of astronauts by selection
• Human spaceflight
• History of spaceflight
• European contribution to the International Space Station

References

1. "Closing in on new astronauts". European Space Agency. 24 September 2008. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
2. "Astronaut Tim Peake assumes ESA ambassadorial role". www.esa.int. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
3. Clark, Stephen (3 April 2008). "Europe's new cargo freighter safely docks to space station". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
4. "Closing in on new astronauts". ESA. 24 September 2008. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
5. "Astronaut selection 2021-22 FAQs". www.esa.int. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
6. "ESA presents new generation of ESA astronauts". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
7. "N° 28–2023: ESA proposes Marcus Wandt from Sweden to fly on a future Axiom space mission". European space agency. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023..
8. "Sophie Adenot". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
9. "Pablo Álvarez Fernández". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
10. "Rosemary Coogan". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
11. "Raphaël Liégeois". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
12. "Marco Alain Sieber". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
13. "John McFall". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
14. "Meganne Christian". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
15. "Anthea Comellini". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
16. "Sara García Alonso". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
17. "Andrea Patassa". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
18. "Carmen Possnig". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
19. "Arnaud Prost". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
20. "Amelie Schoenenwald". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
21. "Aleš Svoboda". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
22. "Sławosz Uznański". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
23. "Marcus Wandt". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
24. "Nicola Winter". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
25. Positive signs for Europe as ESA goes forward to the Moon
26. "European astronauts in new functions". ESA. 2 August 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
27. Croft, Melvin; Youskauskas, John (2019). Come Fly with Us: NASA's Payload Specialist Program. Outward Odyssey: a People's History of Spaceflight. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 61–63. ISBN 9781496212252.
28. "European Manned Spaceflight Patches" (PDF). ESA. 29 October 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
29. "The iriss name and logos". ESA. 25 November 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
30. "ESA mission name for astronaut Tim Peake: Principia F". ESA. 18 July 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
31. "Thomas Pesquet closer to space with mission name Proxima". ESA. 12 November 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
32. "Third spaceflight for astronaut Paolo Nespoli". ESA. 30 July 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
33. "Introducing Huginn". ESA. 18 August 2022.
34. "Muninn Mission Patch and Name". ESA. 16 June 2023.
35. "Axiom Space Announces Astronauts for Third Mission to ISS". Axiom Space. 12 September 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
36. "Axiom Mission 4 to ISS will include India, Poland, Hungary". Axiom Space. 5 August 2024. Retrieved 1 September 2024.

External links

• The European Astronaut Corps