Members of ESA’s astronaut class of 2022 embarked on their first overseas field trip. They visited NASA’s facilities at the Johnson Space Centre (JSC) in Houston, Texas, USA, to get familiar with the environment where they will spend a significant part of their training once assigned to a mission.
From left to right, ESA astronaut and lead of astronaut operations at the European Astronaut Centre Alexander Gerst, ESA astronaut candidates Raphaël Liégeois, Sophie Adenot, Rosemary Coogan, astronaut candidate from the Australian Space Agency Katherine Bennell-Pegg, ESA astronaut candidates Marco Sieber and Pablo Álvarez Fernández, ESA member of the reserve John McFall and ESA astronaut and liaison officer between EAC and JSC in Houston, Luca Parmitano.
ESA's astronaut candidates are currently undergoing basic astronaut training and familiarization primarily conducted at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany.