The European Astronaut Corps is a unit of the European Space Agency (ESA) that selects, trains, and provides astronauts as crew members on U.S. and Russian space missions. The corps has 13 active members, able to serve on the International Space Station (ISS). The European Astronaut Corps is based at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. They can be assigned to various projects both in Europe (at ESTEC, for instance) or elsewhere in the world, at Johnson Space Center or Star City.

History

Current members As of 2024, there are eleven active members of the European Astronaut Corps. Five were selected in 2009, one was selected in 2015, and the remaining five selected in 2022.

Missions in italics are scheduled and subject to change.

Name Country Selection Time in space Missions2022SpaceX Crew-12 (Expedition 74/75)20220None, awaiting assignment20220None, awaiting assignment2009370d 5h 45mSoyuz TMA-15M (Expedition 42/43)SpaceX Crew-4 (Expedition 67/68)2009362d 1h 50mSoyuz TMA-13M (Expedition 40/41)Soyuz MS-09 (Expedition 56/57)20220Unspecified SpaceX Crew flight2015176d 2h 39mSpaceX Crew-3 (Expedition 66/67)2009208d 22h 34m Soyuz TMA-18M/16MSpaceX Crew-7 (Expedition 69/70)2009366d 23h 1mSoyuz TMA-09M (Expedition 36/37)Soyuz MS-13 (Expedition 60/61)Artemis III2009396d 11h 34mSoyuz MS-03 (Expedition 50/51)SpaceX Crew-2 (Expedition 65/66)SpaceX Vast PAM-620220None, awaiting assignment

All of the current members of the corps, other than the 2022 ESA Group, have flown to space and have visited the ISS. French astronaut Thomas Pesquet is the member of the corps who has accumulated the most time in space with 396 days, 11 hours, and 34 minutes. He is the record holder for all the European astronauts in history. The corps currently includes Samantha Cristoforetti, who formerly held the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman.

2009 Group On 3 April 2008, ESA director general Jean-Jacques Dordain announced that recruiting for a new class of European astronauts will start in the near future. The selection program for 4 new astronauts was launched on 19 May 2008 with applications due by 16 June 2008 so that final selection would be due spring 2009. Almost 10,000 people registered as astronaut candidates as of 18 June 2008. 8,413 fulfilled the initial application criteria. From these 918 were chosen to take part in the first stage of psychological testing which led to 192 candidates on 24 September 2008. After two stage psychological tests 80 candidates continued on to medical evaluation in January–February 2009. 40 or so candidates head to formal interviews to select four new members to European Astronaut Corps.

2022 Group Recruitment for the 2022 ESA Astronaut Group took place over 2021–22 and added five "career" astronauts as well as for the first time a "reserve pool" of 11 astronaut candidates, and also a person with a physical disability through the "parastronaut feasibility project".

In June 2023, Marcus Wandt, originally a reserve astronaut, was selected for Axiom Space mission and transitioned to "project" astronaut.. This later was set in place for Polish reserve astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski.

NameCountryRoleSophie AdenotCareerPablo Álvarez FernándezCareerRosemary CooganCareerRaphaël LiégeoisCareerMarco Alain SieberCareerJohn McFallProjectSławosz UznańskiProject Marcus WandtProject Meganne ChristianReserveAnthea ComelliniReserveSara García AlonsoReserveAndrea PatassaReserveCarmen PossnigReserveArnaud ProstReserveAmelie SchoenenwaldReserveAleš SvobodaReserveNicola WinterReserve

The funding by NASA and Russia of the International Space Station is currently planned to end in 2030. Thanks to their involvement with NASA's Orion programme, ESA will receive three flight opportunities for European astronauts to the Lunar Gateway.Positive signs for Europe as ESA goes forward to the Moon

Former members There are 18 former members of the ESA astronaut corps.

Some ESA astronauts were selected by other European agencies and then enrolled into the European Astronaut Corps in 1998.

Name Country Selection Time in space Missions Hans Schlegel Germany 1987 (DLR) 22d 18h 01m STS-55STS-122 André Kuipers Netherlands 1998 203d 15h 50m Soyuz TMA-4/3Soyuz TMA-03M (Expedition 30/31) Christer Fuglesang Sweden 1992 26d 17h 37m STS-116STS-128 Léopold Eyharts France 1990 (CNES) 68d 21h 28m Soyuz TM-27/26STS-122/123 (Expedition 16) Jean-François Clervoy France 1992 28d 03h 04m STS-66STS-84STS-103 Maurizio Cheli Italy 1992 15d 17h 41m STS-75 Pedro Duque Spain 1992 18d 18h 46m STS-95Soyuz TMA-3/2 Reinhold Ewald Germany 1990 (DLR) 19d 16h 34m Soyuz TM-25/24 Umberto Guidoni Italy 1989 (ASI) 27d 15h 10m STS-75STS-100 Claudie Haigneré France 1985 (CNES) 25d 14h 22m Soyuz TM-24/23Soyuz TM-33/32 Jean-Pierre Haigneré France 1985 (CNES) 209d 12h 24m Soyuz TM-17/16Soyuz TM-29 (Mir EO-27) Ulf Merbold Germany 1978 49d 21h 36m STS-9STS-42Soyuz TM-20/19 (Euromir 94) Marianne Merchez Belgium 1992 Ernst Messerschmid 1982 (DLR) 7d 00h 44m STS-61-A Paolo Nespoli Italy 1998 313d 02h 36m STS-120Soyuz TMA-20 (Expedition 26/27)Soyuz MS-05 (Expedition 52/53) Claude Nicollier Switzerland 1978 42d 12h 03m STS-46STS-61STS-75STS-103 Wubbo Ockels Netherlands 1978 7d 00h 44m STS-61-A Philippe Perrin France 1990 (CNES) 13d 20h 35m STS-111 Thomas Reiter Germany 1992 350d 05h 35m Soyuz TM-22 (Mir EO-20)STS-121/116 (Expedition 13/14) Gerhard Thiele Germany 1987 (DLR) 11d 05h 38m STS-99 Michel Tognini France 1985 (CNES) 18d 17h 45m Soyuz TM-15/14STS-93 Frank De Winne Belgium 1998 198d 17h 34m Soyuz TMA-1/TM-34Soyuz TMA-15 (Expedition 20/21) Roberto Vittori Italy 1998 35d 12h 26m Soyuz TM-34/33Soyuz TMA-6/5STS-134 Timothy Peake 2009 185d 22h 11m Soyuz TMA-19M (Expedition 46/47)

Heads of the EAC The following people (all retired or active duty astronauts) have served as Head of the European Astronaut Corps.

Name Country Years served Missions Flown Ernst Messerschmid Germany 2000–2004 STS-61-A Michel Tognini France 2005–2011 Soyuz TM-15/14, STS-93 Frank De Winne Belgium 2012–2025 Soyuz TMA-1/TM-34, Soyuz TMA-15 (Expedition 20/21) Andreas Mogensen 2025–present Soyuz TMA-18M/16M, SpaceX Crew-7 (Expedition 69/70)

European astronauts outside of ESA

Interkosmos Ten Europeans became astronauts within the Soviet Union's Interkosmos program, which allowed citizens of allied nations to fly missions to the Salyut 6, Salyut 7 and Mir space station. Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov Jean-Loup Chrétien Bertalan Farkas Mirosław Hermaszewski Georgi Ivanov Sigmund Jähn Dumitru Prunariu Vladimír Remek Helen Sharman Franz Viehböck

Space Shuttle NASA trained and flew astronauts from allied nations on the Space Shuttle, especially as payload specialists for scientific missions such as Spacelab. Prior to the foundation of the ESA astronaut corps, both the French CNES and the German DLR had selected their own rosters of astronauts, notably in preparation for the introduction of the ISS. The following people flew on various Shuttle missions.

Patrick Baudry Jean-Jacques Favier Dirk Frimout Reinhard Furrer Leonid Kadeniuk Franco Malerba Ulrich Walter

Russian Mir missions The following people flew on missions to Mir under agreements between their nations and Russia. Ivan Bella Klaus-Dietrich Flade

Private spaceflight Hungary developed their own independent Astronaut Program, HUNOR or the Hungarian to Orbit program, to select and train a Hungarian astronaut (Tibor Kapu), and backup (Gyula Cserényi), for the private Axiom Mission 4. As such, despite being astronauts of the Hungarian Space Office, neither are members of the European Astronaut Corps.

Tibor Kapu

Space Shuttle missions Astronauts from the European Astronaut Corps participated in several NASA Space Shuttle missions before the ISS era, in particular as Spacelab payload specialists. NASA considered the full-time ESA astronauts as payload specialists, but offered some the opportunity to train with its own astronauts and become NASA mission specialists. (This list excludes missions to Mir or the ISS)

As Payload Specialists Ulf Merbold – STS-9 (Spacelab), STS-42 (Spacelab) Reinhard Furrer – STS-61-A (Spacelab-D1 Mission) Wubbo Ockels – STS-61-A (Spacelab-D1 Mission) Hans Schlegel – STS-55 (Spacelab-D2 Mission) Ulrich Walter – STS-55 (Spacelab-D2 Mission)

As Mission Specialists Claude Nicollier – STS-46, STS-61 (Hubble Space Telescope) STS-75, STS-103 (Hubble) Maurizio Cheli – STS-75 Jean-François Clervoy – STS-66, STS-84 (Mir), STS-103 (Hubble) Gerhard Thiele – STS-99 Pedro Duque – STS-95

Missions to the Mir space stations Astronauts from Europe have flown to Mir both on board Soyuz vehicles (as part of the Euromir programme) or on board the Space Shuttle.

Jean-Loup Chrétien – Aragatz (1988) Helen Sharman – Project Juno (1991) Franz Viehböck – Austromir '91 (1991) Klaus-Dietrich Flade – Mir '92 (1992) Michel Tognini – Antarès (1992) Jean-Pierre Haigneré – Altair (1993) Ulf Merbold – Euromir '94 (1994) Thomas Reiter – Euromir '95 (1995) Claudie Haigneré – Cassiopée (1996) Reinhold Ewald – Mir '97 (1997) Jean-François Clervoy – STS-84 (1997) France Jean-Loup Chrétien – STS-86 (1997) Léopold Eyharts – Pégase (1998) Jean-Pierre Haigneré – Perseus (1999) Ivan Bella – Stefanik (1999)

Missions to the International Space Station European astronauts to have visited the ISS are: