2022 ESA Astronaut Group
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The 2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group is the latest class of the
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 St ...
. The selection recruited five "career" astronauts as well as 12 "reserve/project" astronauts (including one "astronaut with a physical disability"). They are the fourth
European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...
(ESA) astronaut class to be recruited. The group joined the continuing corps of ESA astronauts, those selected in 2009, to perform both long and short-duration spaceflight missions aboard the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...
, and as part of the
Artemis program The Artemis program is a Exploration of the Moon, Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. The program's stated long-ter ...
.


Group members

Along with the five selected "career astronauts", the campaign recruited a "reserve" pool of astronauts who "...will not be permanent ESA staff, but could have the opportunity to be selected for specific projects, as project astronauts." The campaign also recruited 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, epilepsy ...
through the "parastronaut feasibility project". The announcement of the selected candidates took place in Paris on 23 November 2022 at the Grand Palais Éphémère, at the conclusion of the triennial ESA ''Ministerial Council'' meeting. File:ESA astronaut announcement Class of 2022 (52519418671).jpg, Sophie Adenot
Helicopter test pilot.''Flight Allocation TBA 2026'' File:ESA astronaut announcement Class of 2022 (52519960003) (cropped).jpg, alt=Pablo Álvarez Fernández Aeronautical engineering, Pablo Álvarez Fernández
Aeronautical engineer File:ESA astronaut announcement Class of 2022 (52519689839).jpg, alt=Rosemary Coogan Astronomer, Rosemary Coogan
Astrophysicist File:ESA astronaut announcement Class of 2022 (52519695014).jpg, Raphaël Liégeois
Neuroscientist.''Flight allocation TBA 2026'' File:ESA astronaut announcement Class of 2022 (52518941597).jpg, alt=Marco Alain Sieber Paratrooper and anaesthesiologist, Marco Alain Sieber
Paratrooper and anaesthesiologist File:ESA_astronaut_announcement_Class_of_2022_(52519901790)_(cropped).jpg, alt=Marcus Wandt, Marcus Wandt Test pilot. Axiom-3 (2024) File:ESA astronaut announcement Class of 2022 (52519696304) (cropped).jpg, alt=John McFall, John McFall Orthopaedic surgeon. Astronaut with a disability feasibility study. File:ESA astronaut announcement Class of 2022 (52519971813) (cropped) (cropped).jpg, alt=Sławosz Uznański,
Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, née Uznański (Polish: ; born 12 April 1984 in Łódź) is a Polish engineer working at the European Space Agency (ESA) as a project astronaut since 2023, and was formerly employed at CERN. Early life and educat ...
Radiation effects engineer Axiom-4 (2025) File:ESA astronaut announcement Class of 2022 (52519889235) (cropped).jpg, alt=Meganne Christian,
Meganne Christian Meganne Louise Christian (born 1987) is a member of the 2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group, and Reserve Astronaut and Exploration Commercialisation Lead at the UK Space Agency. She was previously a materials scientist at the National Re ...
Materials scientist File:ESA_astronaut_announcement_Class_of_2022_(52519970988)_(cropped).jpg, alt=Anthea Comellini, Anthea Comellini Aerospace engineer File:Sara_García_Alonso_-_ESA_astronaut_announcement_Class_of_2022_(52519960003)_(cropped).jpg, alt=Sara García Alonso, Sara García Alonso Biomedical scientist File:ESA astronaut announcement Class of 2022 (52519886800) (cropped).jpg, alt=Andrea Patassa, Andrea Patassa Test pilot File:ESA_astronaut_announcement_Class_of_2022_(52519691794).jpg, alt=Carmen Possnig,
Carmen Possnig Carmen Possnig (born 1988) is an Austrian physician and European Space Agency reserve astronaut. After graduating from the Medical University of Graz in 2014, Possnig was a general practitioner resident in Vienna for a few years before working as ...
Medical doctor File:Arnaud_Prost_at_ESA_astronaut_announcement_Class_of_2022.jpg, alt=Arnaud Prost, Arnaud Prost Flight test engineer File:ESA_astronaut_announcement_Class_of_2022_(52519413441).jpg, alt=Ameile Schoenwald, Amelie Schoenenwald Immunologist File:ESA_astronaut_announcement_Class_of_2022_(52518941837)_(face_cropped).jpg, alt=Aleš Svoboda,
Aleš Svoboda Aleš Svoboda may refer to: * Aleš Svoboda (linguist), born 1941, died 2010 * Aleš Svoboda (astronaut) Aleš Svoboda may refer to: * Aleš Svoboda (linguist), born 1941, died 2010 * Aleš Svoboda (astronaut), born 1986 {{hndis ...
, born ...
Fighter pilot File:ESA_astronaut_announcement_Class_of_2022_(52519691554)_(cropped).jpg, alt=Nicola Winter, Nicola Winter Fighter pilot


Chronology


2023

Basic training for some of the group began throughout 2023 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, ...
(EAC) facilities in Cologne, with a duration of approximately a year. The five selected "career" astronauts began in April, joined by three members of the reserve who had received "project" astronaut assignments: McFall and Wandt in June, and Uznański in September. In August 2023 the Polish government signed an agreement with ESA and Axiom have a Polish citizen aboard a future Axiom flight. Although the agreement did no specify who would fly or when that mission would take place, the Polish minister for Economic Development and Technology stated the intent was "to submit the candidature" of Uznański for a flight in 2024.


2024

After being initially announced as a reserve Marcus Wandt became the first of the class to be assigned to a spaceflight, as "mission specialist" aboard Axiom-3, to the International Space Station. It became be "the first commercial mission for an ESA-sponsored astronaut" with the Swedish National Space Agency responsible to "negotiate directly with
Axiom An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or ...
for the flight" following ESA director general signing of
letter of intent A letter of intent (LOI or LoI, or Letter of Intent) is a document outlining the understanding between two or more parties which they intend to formalize in a legally binding agreement. The concept is similar to a heads of agreement, term she ...
in April 2023 for such a mission. His training was performed in reverse-order to the norm, with the mission-specific content first then followed by basic training at EAC second. Wandt's mission name will be " Muninn" and will partially coincide with Danish ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen's mission "Huginn". The Axiom-3 mission took place from 18 January to 9 February with Wandt serving as a
mission specialist Mission specialist (MS) is a term for a specific position held by astronauts who are tasked with conducting a range of scientific, medical, or engineering experiments during a spaceflight mission. These specialists were usually assigned to a s ...
. The career astronauts (along with Australian astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg) graduated from Basic Training 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, ...
on the 22nd of April 2024 under the class name "The Hoppers". One month later, in the context of a meeting of the EU/ESA "Space Council" meeting held in Brussels, Adenot then Liégeois were announced as receiving the first two long duration mission assignments – both scheduled in that order for 2026. In August, it was confirmed that Uznański was assigned on Axiom-4, scheduled for 2025 and immediately began his mission training. In September was announced that all the reserves (other than Wandt and Uznański) would receive "selected modules of ESA’s one-year basic training programme", to be conducted in three blocks of two-month duration over the next two years – with the first beginning the following month.


Recruitment

The recruitment campaign was announced at press conferences in February 2021. Applications for the roles of "astronaut" and "astronaut (with a physical disability)" in the ''ESA Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration Programmes'' were accepted between 31 March and 18 June of that year and over 22 thousand applications were received. The original deadline of May 28 was extended by three weeks due to
Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
joining ESA as an associate-member of ESA, and its citizens therefore becoming eligible to apply, only a week before the original deadline.


Criteria

Recruits could be a citizen of any ESA member or associate-member state. Women were particularly encouraged to apply — in order to address the
gender gap A gender gap, a relative disparity between people of different genders, is reflected in a variety of sectors in many societies. There exist differences between men and women as reflected in social, political, intellectual, cultural, scientific and ...
among astronauts — as under 16% of applicants in the previous recruitment campaign were women. The minimum formal criteria included: being a citizen of an ESA member (or associate member) state under the age of 50; being between 150 and 190cm tall (with possible exception under the astronaut with a disability category); a "normal weight" BMI range; fluency in English and another language; a
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
in the Natural Sciences, Medicine, Engineering, Mathematics/Computer Sciences (plus three years of professional experience), or accreditation as an experimental test pilot; a "hearing capacity of 25 dB or better per ear"; and a current class 2 pilot's medical certificate. Upon selection, recruits would then receive training in "...the essentials of being an astronaut, survival skills and the
Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...
, before moving on to robotics, navigation, maintenance and spacewalks", and then receiving mission-specific training. The types of disability considered for astronaut with a disability program were lower limb deficiency (e.g. due to amputation or congenital limb deficiency), leg length difference, or short stature.


Applicants

Applications from 22,523 candidates were received. They came from all eligible nationalities (including Lithuania), as well as 257 for the astronaut with a disability program. This represented a 2.8x increase in the number of applications received compared to the previous ESA astronaut selection process. Almost five and a half thousand applicants (24%) were women – up from 1287 (15.3%) female applicants in the previous selection process. Estonia had the highest proportion of female applicants (38.6%), while Switzerland had the lowest (17.8%). With over seven thousand applications the largest number of applicants were French citizens, almost twice as many as the next most common applicant citizenship, Germans. It was speculated that the popularity of the call for applicants among French citizens was due to Thomas Pesquet's "Alpha" mission to the
ISS The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), ESA (Europe), ...
beginning while the application period was open. More than a thousand applications were also received from British, Spanish, Italian and Belgian citizens, while less than 100 applications were received from Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Luxembourgers, and Slovenians. ESA stressed that the eventual selection is "irrespective" of national funding of the organisation.


Selection process

file:ESA astronaut announcement Class of 2022.webm, Announcement of ESA's new class of astronauts, alt=stage with curtain and two presenters, once the curtain is raised people behind are standing spread out across two rows and are called upon individually to come forward to the front The selection process itself proceeds over six stages: # Screening of applicants was undertaken "on the basis of documents submitted, the application form and the screening questionnaire." It was initially expected that approximately 1500 (7%) applicants would be accepted through to stage 2. By the conclusion of the 1st stage in January 2022, 1361 astronaut candidates and 27 disabled candidates were invited to the 2nd stage – including at least one man and one woman from every eligible nationality. # Initial tests consisted of "cognitive, technical, motor coordination and personality tests" administered by the
German Aerospace Center The German Aerospace Center (, abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany, founded in 1969. It is headquartered in Cologne with 3 ...
in Hamburg. #
Assessment centre An assessment centre is a process where candidates are examined to determine their suitability for specific types of employment, especially management or military command. The candidates' personality and aptitudes are determined by techniques in ...
evaluation involved "additional psychometric tests, individual and group exercises and practical tests" administered 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. # Medical tests assessed "physical and psychological condition in view of long-duration astronaut missions" administered in Cologne and the
Toulouse Space Centre The Toulouse Space Centre (; CST) is a research and development centre of CNES. Founded in September 1968, it is located in the Rangueil-Lespinet district of Toulouse in the Haute-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in France. The larg ...
, France. # Panel interview assesses "technical and behavioural competencies" including a
background check A background check is a process used by an organisation or person to verify that an individual is who they claim to be, and check their past record to confirm education, employment history, and other activities, and for a criminal record. The fr ...
. # Final interview with the ESA Director General at the agency headquarters in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
.


See also

*
NASA Astronaut Group 23 NASA Astronaut Group 23 (nicknamed The Flies) was announced on December 6, 2021, with the class reporting for duty in January 2022. Twelve astronaut candidates were selected, including seven men and five women. History NASA announced the creat ...


Notes


References


External links

* ESA recruitment websit
YourWayToSpace
an
astronaut application handbook
{{European human spaceflight European Space Agency personnel Lists of astronauts Human spaceflight programs Astronaut candidates