About ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Highlights
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Space in Member States
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Spain
Estonia
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Norway
The Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Czechia
Romania
United Kingdom
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland
Science & Exploration
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicAstronauts
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Enabling & Support
Making space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Luca Parmitano Training
In less than three years, Luca has travelled between all five international partners’ training sites, gaining the knowledge and skills required for his mission. His tailored training has taken him to Houston, USA, Star City near Moscow, Russia, Tsukuba near Tokyo, Japan, Montreal, Canada, and the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.
Critical tasks are trained over and over. As Soyuz flight engineer, Luca requires a great amount of ‘flying hours’ in the Russian spacecraft simulator, so he trained until he felt at home in the cockpit and can operate Soyuz flawlessly in any situation. During simulations, Luca had his hands at the controls of the spacecraft and wore the Russian Sokol flight suit.
Luca has been taught Space Station systems in full-size mockups, where he familiarised himself with the Station and learnt how everything works. He is trained in all systems and experiment operations scheduled for his mission. He has spent hours getting to know every corner of Europe’s Columbus laboratory, where most of the experiments in which he participates in take place.
Dressed in a spacesuit, Luca also trained to perform spacewalks in one of the largest swimming pools in the world on realistic mockups of the Space Station.
