Posted on Friday January 3rd, 2025 by Marie Deschamps
The year is 2035. An Ariane 6 rocket blazes into the sky, delivering an Argonaut mission to the Moon. On the lunar surface, astronauts and robots work hand in hand, pushing the boundaries of exploration, uncovering the Moon’s secrets, and bringing knowledge and innovation back to Earth for the benefit of all. Also known as […]
Read the articleThese European astronauts in the active astronaut corps have flown or are set to fly to space. Find out more about each astronaut and their activities by clicking on their profile.
In 2022, ESA selected 17 individuals to form a new class of astronauts. Among them, five recently completed their basic training at the European Astronaut Centre in preparation for future space missions. Follow their journey as they train to become the next generation of space explorers.
Go behind the scenes of exploration and other space topics with astronauts and experts in this official podcast from the European Space Agency.
Listen nowHuman spaceflight and robotic exploration expand our knowledge of the Universe and enhance life on Earth. From missions to the International Space Station (ISS), to ground-based training and future technologies, join ESA in exploring farther.
Posted on Thursday April 10th, 2025 by Marie Deschamps
Timekeeping is about to reach new heights with ACES, the Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space. Built by Airbus for ESA, ACES will be launched to the International Space Station on 21 April and installed outside ESA’s Columbus laboratory. The instrument features two cutting-edge atomic clocks, PHARAO and SHM, which will work together to generate the […]
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Posted on Thursday March 6th, 2025 by Marie Deschamps
Born in Italy, Sara Pastor graduated in Aerospace Engineering from Politecnico di Torino in 1998. After a brief experience in the automotive industry, she worked in Alenia Space in Turin (now Thales Alenia Space), before moving to ESA in 2003 at its technical site in the Netherlands. Initially, Sara worked on the preparation of ESA’s […]
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Posted on Thursday February 27th, 2025 by Marie Deschamps
ESA’s Argonaut represents Europe’s autonomous and versatile access to the Moon, supporting international exploration endeavours on the lunar surface. The spacecraft will support several missions to the Moon, launching aboard a four-booster Ariane 6 in the next decade. The spacecraft has two main elements: the Lunar Descent Element, which takes care of flying to the […]
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Posted on Monday October 21st, 2024 by Laura
In the first episode of the new ESA Explores series, "Road to the stars," we chat with ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer about the LUNA facility, Europe's Moon on Earth.
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Posted on Friday June 28th, 2024 by Laura
The team of ESA’s Spaceship EAC initiative revived their LEGO-building skills and 3D-printed the famous bricks from lunar regolith and meteor dust, providing a glimpse into how future construction on the Moon might look.
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Posted on Friday June 14th, 2024 by Laura
Anyone who has tried virtual reality (VR) applications knows about its many possibilities: from immersive video games and 360-degree movies, to virtual museum tours, meetings, or journeys to space – all from the comfort of your home. ESA’s extended reality (XR) lab at the European Astronaut Centre goes one step further and uses virtual, augmented […]
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Posted on Friday May 17th, 2024 by Marie Deschamps
This summer marks the ten-year anniversary of the electromagnetic levitation facility on the International Space Station. Helping to reveal the core physics at play in materials science, the Electromagnetic Levitator (EML) is a furnace in ESA’s Columbus laboratory that can melt metals by induction heating them up to 2200 °C. Scientists can then observe the samples […]
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Posted on Friday April 26th, 2024 by Laura
In Episode 8 of this ESA Explores podcast series, we chat with ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst about his role as head of astronaut operations at ESA's European Astronaut Centre, guiding the next generation of space explorers on their adventures.
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