Sophie Adenot will enter the deep end of European astronauts, starting April 3 in Cologne, the European Space Agency’s director general confirmed Monday during his vows. A necessary introduction to the first trip that has to be patient.
Six men and women will, on April 3, join theEAC, European Astronaut Center of the European Space Agency, in Cologne, Germany, where it will be specially supervised by the existing members of the corps. Thus, the Frenchman Thomas Pesquet will welcome and accompany the first steps of His new teammate Sophie Adinot.
The meeting took place in #EuropeCosmonautics Center near Cologne, Germany esa Astronauts train in life size @space station Modules and even moonwalk practice in the neutral buoyancy facility pool: https://t.co/xLWQurUzdd #YourWayToSpace #ForwardToTheMoon pic.twitter.com/KNgN9fRKiB
human space flight (esaspaceflight) November 7, 2022
Three-stage training
Enlisted on November 24, 1940s, a helicopter pilot for the French Army, in the starting blocks. The Director General of the European Space Agency, Joseph Ashbacher, confirmed on Monday that the five astronauts who were selected after eighteen months will join the center within two months, and they are the Spaniard Pablo Alvarez Fernandez, the English Rosemary Kogan, the Belgian Rafael Leygua, and the Swiss Marco Siber. They will be accompanied by Briton John McFall, who has been recruited as a “Participant in the Feasibility Study on Parastronauts”.
What awaits them at EAC and should prepare them for what will be their main mission, to stay permanently in space and conduct science experiments there? In three stages, their training begins with a year of information and the so-called basic training: knowledge of the ongoing space programs of the European Space Agency; Courses in engineering, biology, and behavioral sciences. Learning about ISS systems, diving as an introduction to zero-gravity exercises in the center’s swimming pool, and even robotics.
Will they work on their Russian system and the systems for the Soyuz spacecraft, given the context? Sure: by default and because the bridges are not broken.
No mission before the end of 2026 at best
Second, Sophie Adenot and her colleagues will be dealing with advanced training for another year. “It provides astronauts with the in-depth knowledge and skills necessary to operate and maintain the systems, equipment and modules of the International Space Station, as well as the spacecraft that allow access to them,” ESA details.
Sophie Adenot will leave her Air Force uniform and is now an employee of the European Space Agency.
It will also be time to travel. Astronauts specialize in certain jobs, including “robotics, navigation, maintenance, activities inside and outside vehicles, medical aspects, and payloads of the International Space Station,” which will take them to the United States, in particular, at the partner agencies of the International Space Station.
At the end of these two years, some will hit the wall: those who have been assigned a task and those who replace them will start a year and a half of specific training. Thus they will learn all the scientific manipulations that will be required of them on board and their specific tasks within the crew.
Thus, none of the five will be able to take off before the end of 2026.
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