Orbinaut Pete
ISSU Project Manager
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ESA: "Graduation of Europe's new astronauts".
ESA’s six latest astronaut candidates proudly received their diplomas today at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. From now on, they are officially ‘astronauts’.
The new astronauts, smiling in their blue overalls, were in the spotlight at ESA’s training centre today. They were presented with their certificates signed by Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General, Simonetta Di Pippo, Director of Human Spaceflight, and Michel Togini, Head of the Astronaut Group.
The graduation ceremony, held in front of friends, family, guests and media, marked a milestone in their astronaut careers: the official end of Basic Training, the first phase of astronaut education.
This training covered space engineering, electrical engineering, different scientific disciplines and the major systems of the International Space Station (ISS) and other space vehicles.
It included scuba diving to prepare for spacewalks, robotics, survival training, rendezvous and docking, and the Russian language.
Teamwork
When the new astronaut candidates were selected in 2009, one of the main criteria was the ability to work in a team. The six formed a tight group from the beginning – a team spirit coloured their whole Basic Training period.
“When we introduced these six new astronauts, the most important part was not that there were six individuals representing five member countries, but a team of six persons representing Europe,” said Mr. Dordain at the ceremony.
“When I signed your awards a moment ago, I thought that you should have also received a team award, because I know that your team is more solid now than it was a year ago.
“We can’t assign you all to one single mission, but you will all fly to space and, when you do, I hope you consider a mission of one of you as mission of your team, too.”
“ESA has three new flight opportunities to the ISS before 2015, so half of the new astronauts will have an opportunity to fly in space very soon,” said Mrs. Di Pippo. “The first will head into orbit in 2013.”
“I hope that with these flight opportunities and with these new astronauts we can give a further push to scientific utilisation of the Space Station.
“I think is important, especially now when we see the utilisation of the Station continuing to 2020 and hopefully also beyond.”
European astronaut class 2009
Selection of the new astronauts began in 2008 when ESA called for candidates from all Member States and received more than 8000 applications.
After a year-long selection process, Samantha Cristoforetti from Italy, Alexander Gerst from Germany, Andreas Mogensen from Denmark, Luca Parmitano from Italy, Timothy Peake from the UK and Thomas Pesquet from France were invited to join ESA’s astronaut group in May 2009.
The new astronauts will continue with pre-assignment training and taking part in public relations activities. Once assigned to a mission, they will concentrate on specialised training for that mission.
Video material
Video coverage of the different phases of Basic Training of the new ESA astronauts is available at: http://multimedia.esa.int/Videos/2010/11/ESA-Astronaut-Class-2009
A new Video News Release will be released shortly at: http://television.esa.int/sche.cfm#
UKSA: "School's out - UK astronaut Tim Peake graduates Basic Training".
Tim Peake and his fellow ESA astronauts are today (22nd Nov 2010) celebrating the end of their Basic Training, at an official graduation ceremony at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne.
Major Peake, a former helicopter pilot in the Army Air Corps, will become the UK's first official astronaut in space when he finally gets into orbit. He is one of 6 trainee ESA astronauts who were selected from amongst 8,000 hopefuls.
Tim said, “A huge congratulations to ESA and the European Astronaut Centre in particular. It’s a great achievement to have the first basic training programme outside the US and Roscosmos. ESA should be proud and I’m personally very proud to be a part of it. I’m looking forward to working with the UK Space Agency and space industry and to being part of the public outreach activities.”
Basic Training, the first phase of Tim’s astronaut education, started in September 2009 and has provided Tim and his colleagues with an overall familiarization with their future careers as astronauts. The first section of Basic Training provided them with information about the main space programmes of ESA and other space agencies. Lessons then moved on to space engineering, electrical engineering and different science disciplines. The astronaut candidates also studied the major systems of the ISS and transportation systems, such as the Space Shuttle and Soyuz. The training concluded with specific topics such as scuba diving (as the basis for EVA training), robotics, survival training, rendezvous and docking, Russian language, and human behaviour and performance training.
"These young men and woman represent Europe's ambition and great ability and expertise in human spaceflight and exploration. I am proud to have selected them and to see them getting ready for mission assignments. It is now our collective duty to secure a level of participation in international programmes that will provide enough opportunities for them all," said Simonetta Di Pippo, ESA Director of Human Spaceflight.
In the New Year Tim will begin the next stage of training which will ready him for specific space missions. This training will start with medical specialisation (Space physiology) and Eurocom training (mission communications from Ground Control to the ISS).
Video material
The several phases of the Basic Training have been documented. A camera team has followed the new ESA recruits for the last year on their way to becoming certified astronauts. Video documentation of the different phases of the Basic Training is available at the ESA website.
Video News Release
Tim Peake biography
BBC News: "Europe's new astronauts graduate".
---------- Post added at 06:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:48 PM ----------
ESA has one flight assignment slot on ISS in 2014, for an astronaut of its choosing. So this is the earliest we could see Tim Peake on ISS.
Whether Peake will be chosen for that slot or not is another matter - the UK hasn't exactly contributed much to ISS. However, I think ESA are looking to give the UK a few perks at the moment, in order to get UKSA to come on board with its human spaceflight program.
I'm sure the British Army will be pulling for Peake too, as he'll make a great recruitment campaign for Army officers.
ESA’s six latest astronaut candidates proudly received their diplomas today at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. From now on, they are officially ‘astronauts’.
The new astronauts, smiling in their blue overalls, were in the spotlight at ESA’s training centre today. They were presented with their certificates signed by Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General, Simonetta Di Pippo, Director of Human Spaceflight, and Michel Togini, Head of the Astronaut Group.
The graduation ceremony, held in front of friends, family, guests and media, marked a milestone in their astronaut careers: the official end of Basic Training, the first phase of astronaut education.
This training covered space engineering, electrical engineering, different scientific disciplines and the major systems of the International Space Station (ISS) and other space vehicles.
It included scuba diving to prepare for spacewalks, robotics, survival training, rendezvous and docking, and the Russian language.
Teamwork
When the new astronaut candidates were selected in 2009, one of the main criteria was the ability to work in a team. The six formed a tight group from the beginning – a team spirit coloured their whole Basic Training period.
“When we introduced these six new astronauts, the most important part was not that there were six individuals representing five member countries, but a team of six persons representing Europe,” said Mr. Dordain at the ceremony.
“When I signed your awards a moment ago, I thought that you should have also received a team award, because I know that your team is more solid now than it was a year ago.
“We can’t assign you all to one single mission, but you will all fly to space and, when you do, I hope you consider a mission of one of you as mission of your team, too.”
“ESA has three new flight opportunities to the ISS before 2015, so half of the new astronauts will have an opportunity to fly in space very soon,” said Mrs. Di Pippo. “The first will head into orbit in 2013.”
“I hope that with these flight opportunities and with these new astronauts we can give a further push to scientific utilisation of the Space Station.
“I think is important, especially now when we see the utilisation of the Station continuing to 2020 and hopefully also beyond.”
European astronaut class 2009
Selection of the new astronauts began in 2008 when ESA called for candidates from all Member States and received more than 8000 applications.
After a year-long selection process, Samantha Cristoforetti from Italy, Alexander Gerst from Germany, Andreas Mogensen from Denmark, Luca Parmitano from Italy, Timothy Peake from the UK and Thomas Pesquet from France were invited to join ESA’s astronaut group in May 2009.
The new astronauts will continue with pre-assignment training and taking part in public relations activities. Once assigned to a mission, they will concentrate on specialised training for that mission.
Video material
Video coverage of the different phases of Basic Training of the new ESA astronauts is available at: http://multimedia.esa.int/Videos/2010/11/ESA-Astronaut-Class-2009
A new Video News Release will be released shortly at: http://television.esa.int/sche.cfm#
----------------------------------------
UKSA: "School's out - UK astronaut Tim Peake graduates Basic Training".
Tim Peake and his fellow ESA astronauts are today (22nd Nov 2010) celebrating the end of their Basic Training, at an official graduation ceremony at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne.
Major Peake, a former helicopter pilot in the Army Air Corps, will become the UK's first official astronaut in space when he finally gets into orbit. He is one of 6 trainee ESA astronauts who were selected from amongst 8,000 hopefuls.
Tim said, “A huge congratulations to ESA and the European Astronaut Centre in particular. It’s a great achievement to have the first basic training programme outside the US and Roscosmos. ESA should be proud and I’m personally very proud to be a part of it. I’m looking forward to working with the UK Space Agency and space industry and to being part of the public outreach activities.”
Basic Training, the first phase of Tim’s astronaut education, started in September 2009 and has provided Tim and his colleagues with an overall familiarization with their future careers as astronauts. The first section of Basic Training provided them with information about the main space programmes of ESA and other space agencies. Lessons then moved on to space engineering, electrical engineering and different science disciplines. The astronaut candidates also studied the major systems of the ISS and transportation systems, such as the Space Shuttle and Soyuz. The training concluded with specific topics such as scuba diving (as the basis for EVA training), robotics, survival training, rendezvous and docking, Russian language, and human behaviour and performance training.
"These young men and woman represent Europe's ambition and great ability and expertise in human spaceflight and exploration. I am proud to have selected them and to see them getting ready for mission assignments. It is now our collective duty to secure a level of participation in international programmes that will provide enough opportunities for them all," said Simonetta Di Pippo, ESA Director of Human Spaceflight.
In the New Year Tim will begin the next stage of training which will ready him for specific space missions. This training will start with medical specialisation (Space physiology) and Eurocom training (mission communications from Ground Control to the ISS).
Video material
The several phases of the Basic Training have been documented. A camera team has followed the new ESA recruits for the last year on their way to becoming certified astronauts. Video documentation of the different phases of the Basic Training is available at the ESA website.
Video News Release
Tim Peake biography
----------------------------------------
BBC News: "Europe's new astronauts graduate".
---------- Post added at 06:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:48 PM ----------
ESA has one flight assignment slot on ISS in 2014, for an astronaut of its choosing. So this is the earliest we could see Tim Peake on ISS.
Whether Peake will be chosen for that slot or not is another matter - the UK hasn't exactly contributed much to ISS. However, I think ESA are looking to give the UK a few perks at the moment, in order to get UKSA to come on board with its human spaceflight program.
I'm sure the British Army will be pulling for Peake too, as he'll make a great recruitment campaign for Army officers.
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