The European Space Agency’s new class of astronauts was “enthusiastic” about its first month of training at a press conference held on Wednesday at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.
“Enthusiasm, fun, sparks in the eyes, thanks to this entire team,” was how Belgian neuroscientist Raphaël Liégeois summed up the experience.
Liégeois was selected last November to become one of five new career astronauts at the ESA, along with France’s Sophie Adenot, Spain’s Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Britain’s Rosemary Coogan and Switzerland’s Marco Sieber, under the leadership of Frank De Winne.
“We received our flight suits yesterday, it’s little things like that that make the dream materialise a little more,” said the 35-year-old from Namur.
The pace is 'quite fast, but we expected it'
“Since the start of this training, I cannot say that there has been anything really difficult,” he said in response to a question from the press. “There are some technical challenges that present difficulties, but we have all the support we need to evolve with the instructors, to work more on these aspects. All the resources are available to move forward.”
The aspiring astronauts have to attend an average of four to six hours of classes per day, plus physical training and study time. In short, the pace is “quite fast, but we expected it,” Liégeois explained. No food ban, but nutrition classes. “The diet is not too strict, the idea is that everyone stays healthy.”
This basic training is set to continue until the end of May 2024. Next year, the astronaut who will be the first to leave on a space mission will be chosen. That will require a further two years of preparation.
Extensive programme: biology, the deep pool ...
From 2026 to 2030, each of the five should be given the opportunity to go on at least one long mission (probably six months) at the International Space Station (ISS), mainly for scientific research. After that they would be able to participate, from 2030 onwards, in the Artemis lunar exploration programme, prior to a future mission to Mars.
The first month of training began with information on ESA and its space programmes, “but we quickly moved on to technical subjects, in particular biology, and more specifically biology applied to the space station, which is one of the major fields in which we are investing,” Frank De Winne explained.
“We also touched on certain practical aspects. For example, this week they started a more physical training, with tests in a deep pool, which prepares them for spacewalks.”
For the second Belgian in space, the five candidates, who emerged from a selection process lasting almost two years among 20,000 applicants, are “fantastic people, both in terms of their personalities and in terms of their areas of knowledge, which they also pass on to us. And from the look in their eyes, the motivation is there.”
... and learning Russian, Columbus and spacewalking
Technical training will continue with learning how to operate Columbus, the European laboratory module of the ISS, as well as learning Russian, which remains indispensable at the ISS, where Moscow continues to operate a segment of the station despite geopolitical disruptions. Robotic proficiency, as well as spacewalking, are also on the agenda.
As for who will go to the moon? “In my eyes all five are candidates,” said the centre’s chief. “Their experience is very diverse, and we are checking for each one whether that can give them a special place or not.”
Does Raphaël Liégeois’ master’s degree in neuroscience give him that special place? “What is certain is that we will exploit Raphaël’s knowledge; not during this basic training phase, because he must concentrate on his training, but afterwards, in our scientific programme,” De Winne said. “He is still a very high-level scientist, and we will certainly use his expertise to build our programme even better.”
“As a scientist, I know how experiments are prepared, and I know what the experimenters expect from those who carry out the experiment, so that’s an advantage, but many other aspects matter in the profile that ESA expects of astronauts,” Liégeois said.
Starship's fate is no deterrent
No special treatment from the Belgian director of the training centre for his Belgian student, Liégeois assured. “There is an equivalence of treatment, that’s clear. Frank is very attentive with each of us to accompany us in this change of life, because he knows that it can be impressive at first.”
Of course, the five astronaut candidates watched the take-off of Starship, the SpaceX mega rocket chosen by NASA to bring astronauts back to the Moon, before leaving to conquer Mars. While the craft was able to lift off, it exploded in flight a few minutes later.
“I’m not analysing this as a failure at all, people will agree that it’s more or less in between. In any technological development, there are mistakes or failures,” Liégeois noted.
And while he sometimes talks about Mars with his comrades, he keeps his feet on the ground: “It’s 400 km to the ISS, the Moon is a thousand times further, and Mars is another thousand times further. There will be humans on Mars one day, but it remains a huge challenge. Right now, the burning challenge is Artemis.”
