- European Astronaut Corps
The European Astronaut Corps is the group of astronauts of
European Space Agency . There are currently eight active members of the Corps, all men. The European Astronaut Corps is based at theEuropean Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. They can be assigned to various projects both in Europe (atESTEC , for instance) or elsewhere in the world, atNASA Johnson Space Center or Star City.Current members
There are eight astronauts in the corps.
*flagicon|Germany flagicon|Europe
Hans Schlegel
*flagicon|Italy flagicon|EuropePaolo A. Nespoli
*flagicon|Italy flagicon|EuropeRoberto Vittori
*flagicon|France flagicon|EuropeJean-François Clervoy
*flagicon|France flagicon|EuropeLéopold Eyharts
*flagicon|Belgium flagicon|EuropeFrank De Winne
*flagicon|Sweden flagicon|EuropeChrister Fuglesang
*flagicon|Netherlands flagicon|EuropeAndré Kuipers All members of the corps have flown in space. The last one to do so was Paolo Nespoli who was assigned to Space Shuttle mission
STS-120 , which was launched in October 2007. All members, except Jean-François Clervoy, have visited the ISS.Eyharts is the member of the Corps who has spent the most time in space, more than 69 days, the European record belonging to former German astronaut Thomas Reiter with 350 days.
The youngest member of the corps is Roberto Vittori, born in 1964, while the oldest is Hans Schlegel, born in 1951. The Corps currently includes no woman, being an all white males group. Only two women have been members of the corps.
Marianne Merchez who never flew, andClaudie Haigneré who resigned after two flights to start a political career in France. The only minority participation is thatLéopold Eyharts belongs to the Basque ethnic group in France.Future of the European Astronaut Corps
election of new astronauts
According to French weekly "
Air & Cosmos ", only six astronauts (Fuglesang, Schlegel, Nespoli, Eyharts, De Winne and Kuipers) remain available for immediate flight. Vittori and Clervoy are on temporary leave or assigned to other duties. The head of human spaceflight at ESA recommended that at least four more astronauts (plus four other in reserve) should be added after the launch of Columbus in February 2008.On
April 3 ,2008 , ESA director generalJean-Jacques Dordain announced that recruiting for a new class of European astronauts will start in the near future. [ [http://www.spaceflightnow.com/ariane/v181/080403docking2.html Spaceflight Now | ATV Mission Report | Europe's new cargo freighter safely docks to space station] ] . The selection program for 4 new astonauts was launched onMay 19 ,2008 with applications due by16 June 2008 [http://www.esa.int/hr/PDF/VN_ESOC_2008_014.pdf] so that final selection would be due spring 2009. [http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEMZQPQ4KKF_index_0.html] Almost 10 000 people registered as astronaut candidates 2008-06-18. 8413 fulfilled the initial application criteria. From these 918 were chosen to take part in the first stage of psychological testing which lead to 192 candidates in 2008-09-24. After two stage psychological tests 80 candidates will continue to medical evaluation in January/February 2009. 40 or so candidates will head to a formal interviews to select the four new members to European Astronaut Corps. [http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEMZQPQ4KKF_index_0.html]After the ISS
The funding by NASA of the
International Space Station is scheduled to end in 2015. The role and activities of European astronauts beyond this date, and in particular their involvement in theVision for Space Exploration , including missions to the Lunar outpost, is unclear.Former members
There are fourteen former astronauts of the ESA [http://www.esa.int/esaHS/ESAZ5Q0VMOC_astronauts_0.html]
*flagicon|Italy flagicon|Europe
Maurizio Cheli
*flagicon|Spain flagicon|EuropePedro Duque
*flagicon|Germany flagicon|EuropeReinhold Ewald
*flagicon|Italy flagicon|EuropeUmberto Guidoni
*flagicon|France flagicon|EuropeClaudie Haigneré
*flagicon|France flagicon|EuropeJean-Pierre Haigneré
*flagicon|Germany flagicon|EuropeUlf Merbold
*flagicon|Belgium flagicon|EuropeMarianne Merchez *
*flagicon|SwitzerlandClaude Nicollier
*flagicon|Netherlands flagicon|EuropeWubbo Ockels
*flagicon|France flagicon|EuropePhilippe Perrin
*flagicon|Germany flagicon|EuropeThomas Reiter
*flagicon|France flagicon|EuropeMichel Tognini
*flagicon|Germany flagicon|EuropeGerhard Thiele * No space missionsNon ESA European Astronauts
Warsaw Pact Astronauts
*
Aleksandar Panayotov Aleksandrov
*Georgi Ivanov
*Mirosław Hermaszewski
*Sigmund Jähn
*Vladimír Remek
*Anatoly Solovyev
*Bertalan Farkas
*Dumitru Prunariu Western Europe Astronauts
* flagicon|Europe
Klaus-Dietrich Flade
* flagicon|EuropeReinhard Furrer
* flagicon|EuropeErnst Messerschmid
* flagicon|EuropeUlrich Walter
* flagicon|EuropePatrick Baudry
* flagicon|EuropeJean-Jacques Favier
* flagicon|EuropeFranco Malerba
* flagicon|EuropeDirk Frimout
* flagicon|EuropeFranz Viehböck
* flagicon|EuropeIvan Bella
* flagicon|EuropeHelen Sharman
*flagicon|France flagicon|EuropeJean-Loup Chrétien huttle missions
Astronauts from the European Astronaut Corps have participated to various missions before the ISS era, in particular in the frame of Spacelab, as
Payload Specialist s.As Payload Specialists
* Ulf Merbold -
STS-9 /Spacelab ,STS-42 / Spacelab
* Wubbo Ockels -STS-61-A / SpacelabAs Mission Specialists
* Claude Nicollier -
STS-46 ,STS-61 ,STS-75 ,STS-103
* Maurizio Cheli -STS-75
* Jean-François Clervoy -STS-66 ,STS-84 , STS-103
* Gerhard Thiele -STS-99
* Pedro Duque -STS-95 Missions on space stations
Mir visits
Astronauts from the European astronaut Corps have also flown to
Mir both on board Soyuz vehicles or on board the Space Shuttle.
*Ulf Merbold - Euromir 94 -Soyuz TM-20 - 03.10. - 04.11.1994
*Thomas Reiter - Euromir 95 -Soyuz TM-22 - 03.09.1995 - 29.02.1996
*Jean-François Clervoy -STS-84 ISS visits
ESA astronauts to have visited the ISS are:
*Guidoni,ESA , 9th ISS flight (6A) MPLM Raffaello,STS-100 /ISS
*Vittori, ASI Eneide, Soyuz/ISS
*Vittori, ASI Marco Polo, Soyuz/ISS
*Claudie Haigneré,CNES Andromède,Soyuz /ISS
*Perrin ,NASA /CNES, ISS assembly flight UF-2,STS-111 /ISS
*De Winne, ESA, Odissea, Soyuz/ISS
*Duque, ESA, Cervantes, Soyuz/ISS
*Kuipers, ESA, DELTA Mission, 8S/ISS
*Reiter, ESA Astrolab, ISS assembly flight ULF 1.1,STS-121 /ISS,Expedition 13
*Fuglesang, ESA Celsius, ISS assembly flight 12A.1,STS-116 /ISS
*Nespoli, ESA Esperia, ISS assembly flight 10A,STS-120 /ISS
*Schlegel, ISS assembly flight 1E,STS-122 /ISS
*Eyharts,STS-122 /ISS,Expedition 16 Upcoming missions
Crew members
* Christer Fuglesang -
STS-128
* Frank De Winne -Expedition 19
* André Kuipers -Expedition 22 Back-up crew members
* André Kuipers -
Expedition 19 References
External links
* [http://www.esa.int/esaHS/ESA75G0VMOC_astronauts_0.html The European Astronaut Corps]
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