The candidates, France’s Thomas Pesquet, Germany’s Alexander Gerst and Matthias Mauer, Italy’s Luca Parmitano and Samantha Cristoforetti, Denmark’s Andreas Mogensen and Britain’s Tim Peake, have completed at least one mission to the International Space Station.
The seven-member team of astronauts who will be trained to leave for the Moon as part of the American “Artemis” program was presented today in Paris by the European Space Agency (ESA).
The candidates, France’s Thomas Pesquet, Germany’s Alexander Gerst and Matthias Mauer, Italy’s Luca Parmitano and Samantha Cristoforetti, Denmark’s Andreas Mogensen and Britain’s Tim Peake, have completed at least one mission to the International Space Station. But only one of them will set foot on the Moon’s soil. Together, they have spent 4.5 years in orbit and completed 98 hours of “spacewalks”, explained Philippe Villeken, in a press conference he gave at the International Astronautical Congress in Paris.
Of the seven, only three will be selected for Lunar Gateway, the future space station that will orbit the moon, and only one will set foot on the Moon by the end of the decade. ESA has not yet decided.
“We are all candidates and what counts is going there as a team. Look, we’re all wearing the same T-shirt,” commented Thomas Pesquet who was present at the event along with Gerst, Mauer and Parmitano – all wearing a light blue T-shirt with the ESA and ‘Artemis’ logos. Samantha Cristoforetti is on the International Space Station while Andreas Mogensen is currently preparing for a mission to the ISS.
A European on the Moon it would be “a source of inspiration for Europe, a strong indication that we have a place in the space world,” Peske commented, not hiding his excitement.
“With a European on the Moon, I hope that a united Europe will become more real than it is today,” said German Matthias Maurer.
Astronauts are trained mainly at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germanywhere a simulation of the lunar surface and its “very aggressive” dust is built, he explained.
#Artemis I update: coverage of today’s cryogenic propellant tanking test for the @NASA_SLS rocket at @NASAKennedy starts at 12:00 BST/13:00 CEST on #NASAtv 👇 https://t.co/hKiJ49m6Vw
— ESA (@esa) September 21, 2022
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