Thirteen years that there had been no recruits.
The European Space Agency (ESA) finally presented its new promotion of astronauts on Wednesday during a ceremony at the Grand Palais Éphémère.
It succeeds that of 2009, of which the Frenchman Thomas Pesquet is a part.
Meet ESA's class of 2022 astronauts 👇 #ESAastro2022 pic.twitter.com/P77q35qXCZ
— ESA (@esa) November 23, 2022
Five career astronauts have been named: they are the French Sophie Adenot, the Spaniard Pablo Alvarez Fernandez, the Briton Rosemary Coogan, the Belgian Raphaël Liégeois and the Swiss Marco Sieber.
The Briton John McFall, amputated of the right leg, and ex-athlete, is him named parastronaut.
Eleven reserve astronauts are added to this team.
These 17 lucky ones were chosen from among more than 22,000 candidates, after a long selection process (medical and psychological tests, interviews, etc.).
Career astronauts, on the front line, will immediately have a contract with ESA and will immediately begin training in Cologne, Germany, for a year, in order to prepare for a mission.
Other astronauts will be on standby, and will have to make themselves available for future missions if the opportunity arises, said the ESA director.
These winners are called to fly in orbit, in the International Space Station (ISS) initially.
The few places for future lunar missions will be reserved for the previous generation already experienced in low orbit stays.
For newcomers, training will begin in April 2023 at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany.
