France: The European Space Agency (ESA) has unveiled a new class of aspiring astronauts, including the world’s first “Parastronaut.” The 3rd generation of European spacefarers consists of 5 career astronauts, 11 members of a reserve pool of astronauts and one astronaut with a physical disability, who will take part in a feasibility project to include astronauts with disabilities in human spaceflight and possible future missions.
This ESA astronaut class is bringing ambition, talent and diversity in many different forms to drive our endeavours and our future. continuous exploration in low Earth orbit on the International Space Station, going forward to the Moon and beyond.
ESA Director General Mr. Josef Aschbacher remarked.
The European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, will begin a 12-month basic training program for five new recruits, 3 men and 2 women, to prepare them to meet the standards outlined by the International Space Station partners. The candidates are Mr. John McFall, Ms. Rosemary Coogan, Mr. Raphael Liégeois, Mr. Pablo Alvarez Fernández, and Ms. Sophie Adenot.
The Space Agency has created an astronaut reserve for the first time, which is made up of candidates who were successful in the recruitment process but were not hired. The reserve astronauts continue to work at their present companies and are given a consulting contract.
Mr. McFall, a British medical doctor and Paralympian, claimed that after seeing the ESA’s advertisement for an astronaut with a physical disability, he felt driven to apply. The Paralympian’s right leg was amputated after a motorcycle accident when he was 19.
The ESA anticipates that the first European to set foot on the moon will be among this class of astronauts. The space agency has been intimately linked with NASA’s Artemis project to put humans back on the moon.