Six months ago, five astronauts were selected to form the new promotion of the European Space Agency. For a month, they have been training at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany. This intensive preparation will last a year and will allow them to be assigned a first mission to the International Space Station within a few years. Among these astronauts is the French Sophie Adenot, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Air Force, now an astronaut candidate. We caught up with her in Cologne where she talks about her first steps in her new jumpsuit.
From our special correspondent in Cologne,
RFI: Hello Sophie Adenot. You are taking your first steps at the European Astronaut Center here in Cologne, how are you feeling?
Sophie Adénot: I feel super happy. It’s been since I was a little girl that I dream of being there. I feel like it’s the same wonder as a child on Christmas Day, I’m very happy. The training is very intense so I stay focused on giving my best and then enjoying each day with a good level of energy.
You’ve had time to get to know the four other astronaut candidates in the class. How’s it going ?
There is an amazing atmosphere. We are all focused on the same objective: to acquire all the skills as a team. This training is at a very high level, it is intense. And we are really together in this preparation. It is only by being very united that we will be able, as a team, to raise our level of excellence and it is this level of excellence that will then allow us to be assigned to space missions and to to be effective in our missions. So this part of stimulation and helping each other is very important. Kind of like a top team.
This training, precisely, it is intense, it is varied. What does it look like exactly?
Indeed, it is a training that is very varied and which for one year will allow us to have the basic skills and knowledge to then be assigned to a space mission. It goes through theoretical knowledge: we have just finished the biology module, for example, but also some practical work to learn how to work in a sterile environment, to handle pipettes, to do experiments. The greatest work of astronauts on board the International Space Station is to do research, to work for the benefit of science and new technologies. There are also operational modules. Like learning in the swimming pool to learn about extravehicular outings. There are also survival modules, maritime survival, cold weather survival, to be able to get out of it if the capsule lands in a place not initially planned.
You are aware that the training is still long and that you will not fly immediately. Is patience also what makes a good astronaut?
Indeed, it is advice that I have often been given to be patient. Me, I’m really in the state of mind to enjoy the journey, whatever the destination. For me, training is already part of the adventure. So, whenever I’m assigned to a mission, I’m already happy day by day to learn new skills, to contribute to these space exploration missions. The first mission for the five astronauts of my class will be a mission to the International Space Station. And each of us will have an opportunity before 2030 to complete a six-month flight aboard the International Space Station. And then, well, I don’t think there is any manual or any book that can prescribe what will happen in space exploration. We are in a period of great change and I think we will have some nice surprises in the years to come.
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