Astronaut basic training: winter survival

ESA astronaut candidate Marco Sieber during winter survival training in the snowy mountains of the Spanish Pyrenees as part of his basic astronaut training. 

Next to water survival training, winter survival is an important part of astronaut training, addressing the possibility of a spacecraft landing in remote or unexpected locations. Throughout this training course, astronaut candidates engage in a wide range of activities aimed at learning essential survival skills. These include learning how to create fires in the wilderness, effectively manage cold-related injuries and hypothermia, construct makeshift stretchers, build snow shelters, and endure nights in sub-zero temperatures. 

The group included ESA astronaut candidates Sophie Adenot, Rosemary Coogan, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Raphaël Liégeois, and Marco Sieber, ESA member of the reserve John McFall, alongside Katherine Bennell-Pegg from the Australian Space Agency. The candidates are currently undergoing basic astronaut training and familiarisation primarily conducted at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. 

The one-year training provides an overall familiarisation and training in various areas, such as spacecraft systems, spacewalking, flight engineering, robotics and life support systems. They go through survival and medical training before receiving ESA astronaut certification in the spring of this year. 

After certification, they will move on to the next phases of pre-assignment and mission-specific training, paving the way for future missions to the International Space Station and beyond.