Gli astronauti europei

In addition to supporting the Space Station’s assembly flights, European astronauts are regular members of the permanent international crews. ESA trains its astronauts at the European Astronaut Center (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. Here, astronauts from other partner countries also receive training on how to use the European components of the ISS, such as the Columbus laboratory or the ATV.

The role they play is crucial for Europe’s space future. In fact, it is not just a matter of gaining experience in ISS operations but also an investment in a hypothetical future that could see European citizens on the Moon and among the first explorers to set foot on Mars.

Since 2005, when the U.S. Space Shuttle resumed space missions, Europe’s involvement in human spaceflight has grown to reach all-time highs. Between 2006 and 2010, there were five missions involving ESA astronauts—a truly busy period that also saw a series of historic “firsts.”

We recall German astronaut Thomas Reiter, who became the first European member of the ISS’s permanent crew (he served as flight engineer for the Expedition 13 and 14 crews, spending more than six months in orbit), while Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang joined Reiter in orbit in December 2006. This marked the first time in the ISS’s eight-year history that two Europeans were on board at the same time. This type of scenario has become increasingly common with the continued expansion and completion of the International Space Station, especially after the docking of the Columbus laboratory.

The year 2007 marked the beginning of the busiest period for European human spaceflight activities. Italian ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli delivered the Node 2/Harmony connecting module to the ISS on the STS-120 mission in October 2007. The docking of Node 2 paved the way for the arrival, five months later, of ESA’s key component for the ISS, the Columbus laboratory.

ESA astronauts Hans Schlegel (Germany) and Léopold Eyharts (France) delivered Columbus to the ISS on the STS-122 mission in February 2008, when the European laboratory was connected to Node 2. Schlegel participated in a spacewalk during the mission that was crucial for the docking of Columbus. Eyharts became the first European astronaut to carry out a long-duration mission aboard Columbus. During his stay in space, he commissioned the laboratory and conducted the first experiments of the European microgravity science program inside Columbus.

The docking of the ATV Jules Verne with the ISS in April 2008 demonstrated that thorough training pays off. The crew aboard the ISS had been trained in docking operations at the European Astronaut Center (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, prior to their mission to the Space Station.

The December 1, 2009, landing in Kazakhstan of the Soyuz TMA-15 reentry module, which brought Belgian ESA astronaut Frank De Winne back to Earth, marked the end of the six-month OasISS mission, ESA’s second long-duration mission to the International Space Station. This flight marked Frank De Winne as the first European to take command of the largest outpost ever assembled in space.

De Winne and his two crewmates —Romano Romanenko of Russia and Robert Thirsk of Canada—arrived aboard the ISS in May 2009, joining the three astronauts already on board to form the first permanent crew of six astronauts and enabling more scientific experiments to be conducted on board. During his six months on the ISS, De Winne played a key role in conducting robotic operations during which the Japanese HTV-1 resupply spacecraft was docked to the ISS and external payloads for the Japanese Kibo laboratory were installed. Together with his colleagues on Expeditions 20 and 21, De Winne conducted a series of scientific experiments.

In August 2009, De Winne was joined by Swedish ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang as part of the 14-day Alissé mission on Space Shuttle flight STS-128. Fuglesang participated in two spacewalks and returned to Earth with the first payload from the external platform of the European Columbus laboratory—known as the European Technology Exposure Facility—which had been in space since February 2008 and continues to produce a large amount of samples and data for international scientific teams.

ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori, an Italian national, took part in the Space Shuttle’s STS-134 mission in July 2010 to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS). Astronauts Paolo Nespoli, also an Italian national, and André Kuipers, from the Netherlands, participated as European crew members on long-duration missions—specifically, Expedition 26/27 in 2010–11, the MagISStra mission, and Expedition 30/31 in 2011/12, the PromISSe mission.

Years of intensive work in human spaceflight at the European Astronaut Center (EAC) have created unique human, technical, operational, and scientific expertise in this field that is unmatched anywhere else in Europe. To foster this knowledge for Europe’s future, in May 2009, the EAC selected six new astronauts following a year-long recruitment campaign. The new ESA astronauts began their basic training at the EAC on September 1, 2009.

To date, all six ESA astronauts from the 2009 Astronaut Class have participated in at least one mission to the International Space Station. In addition to Samantha Cristoforetti, Alexander Gerst, Andreas Mogensen, Luca Parmitano, Tim Peake, and Thomas Pesquet, Germany’s Matthias Maurer also passed the 2009 selection process but did not join the 2009 Astronaut Class until July 2015. Maurer is currently awaiting assignment to a mission.

Today, the crews on the International Space Station spend most of their time working on experiments. Although many experiments are fully automated, the astronauts must still monitor them, make adjustments in real time, or respond to any unexpected problems.

In addition to working on experiments and interacting with scientists on the ground, the responsibilities of ESA astronauts—like those of their colleagues from other partner countries (the U.S., Russia, Canada, and Japan)—also include maintaining and, if necessary, repairing the International Space Station and its equipment.

ESA’s current plan is to have a European astronaut carry out a mission on the ISS every two years, until the end of the Station’s operational life. This human activity on the ISS will be the best way to prepare ESA for human exploration of the Moon and Mars, in collaboration with our partners.

Umberto Guidoni (Italy)

STS-100/ISS 2001

Space Shuttle STS-100

Claudie Haigneré (France)

Andromède/ISS 2001

Soyuz

Roberto Vittori (Italy)

Marco Polo/ISS 2002

Soyuz

Philippe Perrin / CNES (France)

STS-111/ISS 2002

Space Shuttle STS-111

Frank De Winne (Belgium)

Odyssey/ISS 2002

Soyuz

Pedro Duque (Spain)

Cervantes/ISS 2003

Soyuz

André Kuipers (Netherlands)

Delta/ISS 2004

Soyuz

Roberto Vittori (Italy)

Eneide/ISS 2005

Soyuz

Thomas Reiter (Germany)

Astrolab/ISS 2006

Space Shuttle STS-121

Christer Fuglesang (Sweden)

Celsius/ISS 2006

Space Shuttle STS-116

Paolo Nespoli (Italy)

Esperia/ISS 2007

Space Shuttle STS-120

Hans Schlegel (Germany)

STS-122/ISS 2008

Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-122

Léopold Eyharts (France)

STS-122-123/ISS 2008

Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-122

Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-123

Frank De Winne (Belgium)

OasISS/ISS 2009

Soyuz

Christer Fuglesang (Sweden)

Alissé/ISS 2009

Space Shuttle Discovery STS-128

Paolo Nespoli (Italy)

MagISStra / ISS 2010–2011

Soyuz

Roberto Vittori (Italy)

DAMA/ISS 2011

Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-134

André Kuipers (Netherlands)

PromISSe/ISS 2011–2012

Soyuz

Luca Parmitano (Italy)

Volare/ISS 2013

Soyuz

Alexander Gerst (Germany)

Blue Dot/ISS 2014

Soyuz

Samantha Cristoforetti (Italy)

Futura/ISS 2014–2015

Soyuz

Andreas Mogensen

IRIS/ISS 2015

Soyuz

Tim Peake (United Kingdom)

Principia/ISS 2015–2016

Soyuz

Thomas Pesquet (France)

Proxima/ISS 2016

Soyuz

Paolo Nespoli (Italy)

Vita/ISS 2017

Soyuz

Alexander Gerst (Germany)

Horizons/ISS 2018

Soyuz

Luca Parmitano (Italy)

Beyond/ISS 2019–2020

Soyuz