King Philippe received Belgian-Luxembourg astronaut Raphaël Liégeois on Wednesday afternoon at Laeken Castle.
“The King has been passionate about space since childhood. I was very pleased with his enthusiasm,” Liégeois said, describing the meeting as “pleasant and cordial.”
The King appears to have played a role in his appointment as an astronaut by the European Space Agency (ESA) in November.
“The monarch met with the director of ESA,” Thomas Dermine, Federal Secretary of State for Science Policy, had said in Paris on 23 November. “The head of state played his part. We had to play hardball with the other major European countries.”
Space mission not before 2026
Indeed, “two months before my appointment, Josef Aschbacher, the Director General of ESA, came for a hearing with the King," Liégeois confirmed.
"The monarch spoke to him about his passion for space travel and the desire of all Belgians to eventually have an astronaut."
The young astronaut did not go empty-handed to the Palace. He took two gifts for the king: a copy of the Tintin album entitled 'Objective Moon' and a pin that the ESA gave him on the day of his appointment as an astronaut.
The King will closely follow the adventures of the newly appointed Belgian astronaut. He also told Liégeois that he wants to be present at the launch of the rocket that will take him into space.
This will be in 2026 at the earliest. Before that happens, Liégeois will need to undergo general basic training in Cologne to be ready for his first mission.
The training programme starts on 3 April 2024. It includes media training and teamwork with four other professional astronauts.
