The European Astronaut Corps is the group of astronauts of ESA who are currently considered as active. There are currently twelve in number, all men. The European astronauts are based in the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. But, in practice, they are in various assignments both in Europe (at ESTEC, for instance) or elsewhere in the world, at NASA Johnson Space Center or Star City. This article is about the European Space Agency. ... The European Astronaut Centre (EAC) is a center of the European Space Agency and home of the European Astronaut Corps. ... The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) is ESAs main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology. ... An aerial view of the complete Johnson Space Center facility in Houston, Texas in 1989. ... Statue of Yuri Gagarin in Star City Star City (Russian: , Zvyozdny gorodok; lit. ...

Current members

ESA astronauts in 2004

There are nine astronauts in the corps. ESA astronauts. ... ESA astronauts. ...

• Thomas Reiter
• Hans Schlegel
• Paolo A. Nespoli
• Roberto Vittori
• Jean-François Clervoy
• Léopold Eyharts
• Frank De Winne
• Christer Fuglesang
• André Kuipers

Only one current member of the corps, Nespoli, has not flown in space. He has already been assigned a Shuttle mission, STS-120, and should fly before the end of 2007. Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Thomas Reiter Thomas Reiter (born May 23, 1958 in Frankfurt, Germany) is an astronaut with the European Space Agency and is a colonel in the Luftwaffe. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Hans Wilhelm Schlegel (born 3 August 1951) is a German astronaut and a veteran of one NASA space shuttle mission. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Paolo Angelo Nespoli (April 6, 1957) is an Italian astronaut. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Roberto Vittori (October 15, 1964 - ) is an ESA astronaut from Viterbo, Italy. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Jean-Francois Clervoy Jean-François André Clervoy (born 19 November 1958) is a French spationaut an a veteran of three NASA space shuttle missions. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Léopold Eyharts - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Belgium_(civil). ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Frank De Winne is a Belgian astronaut of the European Space Agency. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Sweden. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Arne Christer Fuglesang (born March 18, 1957) is the first and only Swedish astronaut. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Netherlands. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... André Kuipers (born October 5, 1958, in Amsterdam) is the second Dutch astronaut (the first one being Wubbo Ockels) to engage on a space flight, on April 18, 2004. ... STS-120 is a planned Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station to deliver the US Node 2 Module, while also reconfiguring part of the station to prepare it for future assembly missions. ...

Reiter is the member of the corps who has spent the most time in space, 350 days.

The youngest member of the corps is Roberto Vittori, born in 1964, while the oldest is Hans Schlegel, born in 1951. The corps currently includes no woman, being an all white males group. Only two women have been members of the corps. Marianne Merchez never flew, and Claudie Haigneré resigned after two flights to start a political career in France. The only minority participation is that Léopold Eyharts belongs to the Basque ethnic group in France. Marianne Merchez (b. ... Claudie Haigneré (formerly Claudie André-Deshays 13 May 1957 ) is a former French cosmonaut. ... Léopold Eyharts - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Languages Basque - few monoglots Spanish - 1,525,000 monoglots French - 150,000 monoglots Basque-Spanish - 600,000 speakers Basque-French - 76,000 speakers [4] other native languages Religions Traditionally Roman Catholic The Basques (Basque: Euskaldunak) are an indigenous people[5] who inhabit parts of northwestern Spain and southwestern France. ...

Future of the European Astronaut Corps

According to French weekly Air & Cosmos, only seven astronauts (Reiter, Fuglesang, Schlegel, Nespoli, Eyharts, De Winne and Kuipers) remain available for immediate flight. The others are on temporary leave or assigned to other duties. Four more astronauts should therefore be recruited, according to the head of human spaceflight at ESA, after the launch of Columbus, in December 2007.

The funding by NASA of the International Space Station is scheduled to end in 2015. The role and activities of European astronauts beyond this date, and in particular their involvement in the Vision for Space Exploration, including missions to the Lunar outpost, is unclear. Image from NASA site Two planned configurations for a return to the moon, heavy lift (left) and crew (right) The Vision for Space Exploration is the United States space policy announced on January 14, 2004 by President George W. Bush. ... On December 4, 2006, NASA announced the conclusion of its Global Exploration Strategy and Lunar Architecture Study. ...

Former members

There are thirteen former astronauts of the ESA [1]

• Ulf Merbold
• Gerhard Thiele
• Reinhold Ewald
• Claudie Haigneré
• Jean-Pierre Haigneré
• Michel Tognini
• Philippe Perrin
• Maurizio Cheli
• Umberto Guidoni
• Wubbo Ockels
• Marianne Merchez No Mission
• Pedro Duque
• Claude Nicollier

Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Ulf Dietrich Merbold (born June 20, 1941) was the first West German and second German astronaut. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... NASA portrait Gerhard Thiele (born September 2, 1953) is a German astronaut. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Reinhold Ewald (born December 18, 1956) is a German physicist and astronaut. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Claudie Haigneré (formerly Claudie André-Deshays 13 May 1957 ) is a former French cosmonaut. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Jean-Pierre Haigneré (born 19 May 1948 ) is a French astronaut. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Philippe Perrin (Colonel, French Air Force) is (accurate at January 2005) a former CNES and European Space Agency astronaut. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Maurizio Cheli Maurizio Cheli (born in Modena, 4 May 1959) is an Italian astronaut and a veteran of one NASA space shuttle mission. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Umberto Guidoni (born in Rome, 18 August 1954) is an Italian astronaut and politician. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Netherlands. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Wubbo Johannes Ockels is a Dutch physicist and astronaut. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Belgium_(civil). ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Marianne Merchez (b. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Spain. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Pedro Francisco Duque (born 14 March 1963) is a Spanish astronaut and a veteran of two space missions. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Switzerland. ... Claude Nicollier in a picture from ESA website. ...

Non ESA European Astronauts

Varsav Pact Astronauts

• Aleksandar Panayotov Aleksandrov
• Georgi Ivanov
• Mirosław Hermaszewski
• Sigmund Jähn
• Vladimír Remek
• Anatoly Solovyev
• Bertalan Farkas
• Dumitru Prunariu

Image File history File links Flag_of_Bulgaria. ... Aleksandar Panayotov Aleksandrov (Bulgarian: Александър Панайотов Александров) (born December 1, 1951, Omurtag, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian cosmonaut. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Bulgaria. ... Georgi Ivanov This article is about Georgi Ivanov the cosmonaut. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Poland. ... Mirosław Hermaszewski (born September 15, 1941), was a Polish astronaut, the first citizen of Poland to make a spaceflight onboard the Soyuz 30 spacecraft. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_East_Germany. ... Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn (born February 13, 1937) was the first German cosmonaut. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Czechoslovakia. ... Vladimír Remek Vladimír Remek (born 26 September 1948) was the first Czech in space, and the first cosmonaut from neither the USSR or the USA. He flew aboard Soyuz 28 from 2 to 10 March 1978, for seven days, 22 hours, and 17 minutes. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Latvia. ... Anatoly Yakovlevich Solovyev (Russian: Анатолий Яковлевич Соловьёв; born January 16, 1948, in Riga) is a former Russian pilot, cosmonaut, and Colonel. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Hungary. ... Bertalan Farkas Bertalan Farkas (born August 2, 1949) was the first Hungarian cosmonaut and was the first Hungarian and the first Esperantist in space. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Romania. ... Dumitru Dorin Prunariu (born September 27, 1952) is a Romanian cosmonaut. ...

West Europe asronauts

• Klaus-Dietrich Flade
• Reinhard Furrer
• Ernst Messerschmid
• Ulrich Walter
• Patrick Baudry
• Jean-Jacques Favier
• Franco Malerba
• Dirk Frimout
• Franz Viehböck
• Ivan Bella
• Helen Sharman

Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Klaus-Dietrich Flade (born August 23, 1952) is a German pilot and former cosmonaut. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Reinhard Alfred Furrer (November 25, 1940 - September 9, 1995) was a German scientist and astronaut. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Ernst Willi Messerschmid (born May 21, 1945) is a German physicist and veteran astronaut. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Ulrich Hans Walter (born February 9, 1954) is a German physicist/engineer and a former =DFVLR [astronaut]]. Walter was born in Iserlohn, Germany. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Patrick Baudry Patrick Baudry (born March 6, 1946 in Cameroon, then a French colony), retired Lieutenant Colonel, French Air Force, is a CNES Spationaut. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... NAME: Franco Malerba (Ph. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Belgium_(civil). ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Dirk D. Frimout Dirk Dries David Damiaan Frimout (Ph. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Austria. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Franz Artur Viehböck (born August 24, 1960 in Vienna) is an Austrian electrical engineer, and Austrias first astronaut. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Slovakia. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Slovak astronaut Ivan Bella Ivan Bella (Brezno, Slovakia on May 25, 1964 - ) is a research cosmonaut from Slovakia and the first Slovak-born person to enter space (the first Slovak to enter space was a U.S. astronaut of Slovak origin). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Helen Patricia Sharman OBE (born May 30, 1963), is a former British astronaut. ...

Shuttle missions

Astronauts from the European Astronaut Corps have participated to various missions before the ISS era, in particular in the frame of Spacelab, as Payload Specialists. In NASA vernacular, a Payload Specialist (PS) is a Space Shuttle crewmember selected for a single specific mission. ...

As Payload Specialists

• Ulf Merbold - STS-9 / Spacelab, STS-42 / Spacelab
• Wubbo Ockels - STS-61-A / Spacelab

STS-9 (Spacelab 1) was a United States Space Shuttle mission, the 6th mission of the Columbia orbiter. ... Spacelab in payload bay during STS-90 Spacelab is a microgravity laboratory flown into space on the Space Shuttle. ... // Ronald J. Grabe (flew on STS-51-J, STS-30, STS-42 & STS-57), Commander Stephen S. Oswald (flew on STS-42, STS-56 & STS-67), Pilot Norman E. Thagard (flew on STS-7, STS-51-B, STS-30, STS-42 & Mir EO-18), Mission Specialist 1 David C. Hilmers... STS-61-A was the 22nd Space Shuttle mission. ...

As Mission Specialists

• Claude Nicollier - STS-46, STS-61, STS-75, STS-103
• Maurizio Cheli - STS-75
• Jean-François Clervoy - STS-66, STS-84, STS-103
• Gerhard Thiele - STS-99
• Pedro Duque - STS-95

STS-46 was a NASA space shuttle mission launched in 1992. ... // Commander: Richard O. Covey (4) Pilot: Kenneth D. Bowersox (2) Payload Commander: F. Story Musgrave (5) Mission Specialist 1: Kathryn C. Thornton (3) Mission Specialist 2: Claude Nicollier (2) - ESA Switzerland Mission Specialist 3: Jeffrey A. Hoffman (4) Mission Specialist 5: Thomas D. Akers (3) Mass: Orbiter landing with payload... STS-75 was a United States Space Shuttle mission, the 19th mission of the Columbia orbiter. ... This is a mission of the United States Space Shuttle. ... STS-75 was a United States Space Shuttle mission, the 19th mission of the Columbia orbiter. ... STS-66 is a Space Shuttle program mission. ... This is a mission of the United States Space Shuttle // Crew Charles J. Precourt (3), Mission Commander Eileen M. Collins (2), Pilot Carlos I. Noriega (1), Mission Specialist Edward T. Lu, (1), Mission Specialist Jean-François Clervoy (2), (ESA) Mission Specialist Elena V. Kondakova (2), (RSA) Mission Specialist Launched... This is a mission of the United States Space Shuttle // Crew Kevin R. Kregel (4), Mission Commander Dominic L. Pudwill Gorie (2), Pilot Janet L. Kavandi (2), Mission Specialist Janice E. Voss (5), Mission Specialist Mamoru Mohri (2), Mission Specialist (NASDA) - Japan Gerhard P.J. Thiele (1), Mission Specialist - Germany... This is a mission of the United States Space Shuttle. ...

Missions on space stations

Mir visits

Astronauts from the European astronaut Corps have also flown to Mir both on board Soyuz vehicles or on board the Space Shuttle. Mir (Russian: ; lit. ...

• Ulf Merbold - Euromir 94 - Soyuz TM-20 - 03.10. - 04.11.1994
• Thomas Reiter - Euromir 95 - Soyuz TM-22 - 03.09.1995 - 29.02.1996
• Jean-François Clervoy - STS-84

Crew Launched: Alexander Viktorenko (4) Elena Kondakova (1) Ulf Merbold (2) - ESA (Germany) Landed: Alexander Viktorenko (4) Elena Kondakova (1) Valeri Polyakov (2) Mission Parameters Mass: 7170 kg Perigee: 200 km Apogee: 249. ... Crew Yuri Gidzenko (1) Sergei Avdeyev (2) Thomas Reiter (1) - ESA (Germany) (1) number of spaceflights each crew member has completed, including this mission. ... This is a mission of the United States Space Shuttle // Crew Charles J. Precourt (3), Mission Commander Eileen M. Collins (2), Pilot Carlos I. Noriega (1), Mission Specialist Edward T. Lu, (1), Mission Specialist Jean-François Clervoy (2), (ESA) Mission Specialist Elena V. Kondakova (2), (RSA) Mission Specialist Launched...

ISS visits

ESA astronauts to have visited the ISS are:

• Guidoni, ESA, 9th ISS flight (6A) MPLM Raffaello, STS-100/ISS
• Vittori, ASI Eneide, Soyuz/ISS
• Vittori, ASI Marco Polo, Soyuz/ISS
• Claudie Haigneré, CNES Andromède, Soyuz/ISS
• Perrin , NASA/CNES, ISS assembly flight UF-2, STS-111/ISS
• De Winne, ESA, Odissea, Soyuz/ISS
• Duque, ESA, Cervantes, Soyuz/ISS
• Kuipers, ESA, DELTA Mission, 8S/ISS
• Reiter, ESA Astrolab, ISS assembly flight ULF 1.1, STS-121/ISS
• Fuglesang, ESA Celsius, ISS assembly flight 12A.1, STS-116/ISS

This article is about the European Space Agency. ... March 10, 2001 - The Leonardo Multi Purpose Logistics Module rests in Discoverys payload bay in this view taken from the ISS by a crew member using a digital still camera during STS-102. ... STS-100 was a successful mission of the United States Space Shuttle Endeavour, intended to supply and service the International Space Station. ... The Italian Space Agency (Italian: Agenzia Spaziale Italiana; ASI) was founded in 1988 to promote, co-ordinate and conduct space activities in Italy. ... The Centre National dÉtudes Spatiales is the French government space agency (administratively, a public establishment of industrial and commercial character). Its headquarters are located in central Paris. ... Soyuz is Russian for Union. Depending on the context, Soyuz may also refer to either of the following: The originally Soviet (now Russian) Soyuz program of human spaceflight The Soyuz spacecraft, used in that program The Soyuz launch vehicle that is used to launch those and other spacecraft This is... ISS is an abbreviation, acronym, or initialism that may refer to: The International Space Station is a joint international project to build and maintain an orbiting space station. ... The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an agency of the United States federal government, responsible for the nations public space program. ... This is a mission of the United States Space Shuttle // Crew Kenneth D. Cockrell (5), Commander Paul S. Lockhart (1), Pilot Franklin R. Chang-Diaz (7), Mission Specialist Philippe Perrin (1) (CNES), Mission Specialist Launched ISS Expedition 5 Crew: Valery G. Korzun (2) (RSA), ISS Commander Peggy A. Whitson (1... This article is becoming very long. ... STS-116 was a flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station (ISS). ...

Upcoming missions

Official mission members

• Paolo Nespoli - STS-120
• Hans Schlegel - STS-122
• Léopold Eyharts STS-122, Expedition 16

STS-120 is a planned Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station to deliver the US Node 2 Module, while also reconfiguring part of the station to prepare it for future assembly missions. ... STS-122 is a space shuttle mission planned for December 2007, and is now expected to use the Space Shuttle Atlantis. ... STS-122 is a space shuttle mission planned for December 2007, and is now expected to use the Space Shuttle Atlantis. ... Expedition 16 is the 16th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). ...

Back-up astronauts

• Frank De Winne - STS-122
• André Kuipers - STS-128, Expedition 16