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Science & Exploration

N° 17–2024: Media invitation: ESA's class of 2022 astronaut candidates graduate

27 March 2024

ESA invites you to the graduation ceremony of its latest group of astronaut candidates at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, on Monday 22 April.

ESA astronaut candidates Sophie Adenot, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Rosemary Coogan, Raphaël Liégeois and Marco Sieber took up duty at the European Astronaut Centre one year ago to be trained to the highest level of standards as specified by the International Space Station partners. After successful completion of basic training, they will be graduate on Monday 22 April.

Also concluding a year of astronaut basic training is Australian astronaut candidate Katherine Bennell-Pegg, who has trained alongside ESA’s candidates and will also graduate with the Class of 2022.

On Monday 22 April, media are cordially invited to the graduation ceremony of ESA’s Class of 2022 at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. There will also be limited opportunity to speak with the astronauts and ESA training experts after the ceremony.

Media who are unable to attend the ceremony in person are invited to join and ask questions via a dedicated online platform.

Programme

09:15 – 09:45            Arrival of media and check-in at EAC           

10:00 – 11:30           Graduation Ceremony

11:30 – 11:50           Set up for media interviews

11:50 – 13:20            1-1 interview opportunities with the Astronaut Candidates and experts

13:20                        End of programme

Location: ESA EAC
Linder Hoehe
D-51147 Cologne
Germany
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/EAC/How_to_reach_us

Media registration

Media representatives are invited to register their attendance by (in-person or online) Wednesday 10 April 2023, 18:00 CEST via https://blogs.esa.int/forms/esa-media-briefing-form/ . Due to EAC’s capacity we kindly ask media teams to restrict their numbers as much as possible as places are limited.

One-to-one interviews should be requested via media@esa.int . Please clearly state who you would like to interview and for which medium. Unfortunately the one-to-one interviews on 22 April are only available to media on-site at EAC.

For media coming to EAC, it will also be possible to arrange interviews on Tuesday 23 April on-site. Please let us know if you wish to arrange an interview on the following day via media@esa.int.

We will try accommodate virtual requests as soon as possible.

The graduation ceremony will also be streamed via esawebtv.esa.int.

Further information

Images and video footage from ESA Astronaut candidates first day at the European Astronaut Centre can be found via:

Full article: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/ESA_s_astronaut_candidates_start_training 

First images: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images 

First videos: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos

Astronaut candidate biographies

Sophie Adenot

Pablo Álvarez Fernández

Rosemary Coogan

Raphaël Liégeois

Marco Alain Sieber

Social Media

Follow ESA on:
Twitter: @ESA@esaspaceflight
Instagram: Europeanspaceagency
Facebook: EuropeanSpaceAgency
YouTube: ESA
LinkedIn: European Space Agency - ESA
Pinterest: European Space Agency - ESA

Images

ESA's Photo Library for Professionals:
https://www.esa-photolibrary.com/

Terms and conditions for using ESA images:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Terms_and_conditions_of_use_of_images_and_videos_available_on_the_esa_website

For questions or more information related to ESA images, please contact directly spaceinimages@esa.int.

Videos

ESA's Video Library for Professionals:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos

Terms and conditions for using ESA videos:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Terms_and_conditions_of_use_of_images_and_videos_available_on_the_esa_website

For questions or more information related to ESA videos, please contact directly spaceinvideos@esa.int.

About the European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe’s gateway to space.

ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.

ESA has 22 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia are Associate Members.

ESA has established formal cooperation with four Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.

By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions.

Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int

For further information:

ESA Newsroom and Media Relations Office

Email: media@esa.int