- Title: FRANCE: European Space Agency presents six new astronauts
- Date: 21st May 2009
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (MAY 20, 2009) (REUTERS) (CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY) EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY HEADQUARTERS IN PARIS WITH GIANT BLOWUP ASTRONAUT EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY SIGN AT ENTRANCE NEW ASTRONAUTS AT PHOTO CALL JOURNALISTS FILMING AND PHOTOGRAPHING NEW ASTRONAUTS CLOSEUP OF NEW ASTRONAUTS SAMANTHA CRISTOFORETTI, TIMOTHY PEAKE AND ANDREAS MOGENSEN AT PHOTO CALL WIDE SHOT OF NEW ASTRONAUTS AT TABLE SURROUNDED BY MEDIA PAN SHOT OF NEW ASTRONAUTS THOMAS PESQUET FROM FRANCE, TIMOTHY PEAKE FROM UK, LUCA PARMITANO FROM ITALY, ANDREAS MOGENSEN FROM DENMARK, ALEXANDER GERST FROM GERMANY AND SAMANTHA CRISTOFORETTI FROM ITALY JOURNALISTS FILMING TIMOTHY PEAKE FROM UNITED KINGDOM AT TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) TIMOTHY PEAKE, NEW ASTRONAUT FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM, SAYING "Certainly the wait in the last couple of weeks has been very tough indeed, not really knowing which direction one's life is going to take. On top of that for me as well, I thought some of the memory-retention tests in the Hamburg day one were pretty tough as well. I don't think my wife would find it a surprise that I struggled through the preliminary memory retention." PAN SHOT OF TABLE WITH JOURNALISTS AND NEW ASTRONAUTS JEAN-JACQUES DORDAIN, DIRECTOR OF EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY AND SIMONETTA DI PIPPO, DIRECTOR OF ESA HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT PROGRAM ANDREAS MOGENSEN, NEW ASTRONAUT FROM DENMARK JOURNALISTS FILMING THOMAS PESQUET, NEW ASTRONAUT FROM FRANCE WIDE SHOT OF NEW ASTRONAUTS AT TABLE ALEXANDER GERST, NEW ASTRONAUT FROM GERMANY SAMANTHA CRISTOFORETTI, NEW ASTRONAUT FROM ITALY, SPEAKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAMANTHA CRISTOFORETTI, NEW ASTRONAUT FROM ITALY, SAYING "I think it serves the purpose of fulfilling, in a way, humanity's drive for exploration, for expanding our boundaries, for going further and beyond all the time. I think it serves the same purpose that it served 500 years ago in the great explorations on Earth." WIDE SHOT OF TABLE WITH JOURNALISTS AND NEW ASTRONAUTS
- Embargoed: 8th June 2009 03:49
- Keywords:
- Location: France
- Country: France
- Topics: Space
- Reuters ID: LVA5JN9ZWZRX3CZ77PS3IVQXUAE4
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: The European Space Agency presented six new European astronauts in Paris on Wednesday (May 20).
The new astronauts are Andreas Mogensen from Denmark, Thomas Pesquet from France, Alexander Gerst from Germany, Samantha Cristoforetti and Luca Parmitano from Italy, and Timothy Peake from the UK.
They were selected from a Europe-wide pool of 8,413 applicants and subject to rigorous psychological, medical and professional screening.
"Certainly the wait in the last couple of weeks has been very tough indeed, not really knowing which direction one's life is going to take. On top of that for me as well, I thought some of the memory-retention tests in the Hamburg day one were pretty tough as well. I don't think my wife would find it a surprise that I struggled through the preliminary memory retention," said Timothy Peake, a 37-year-old experimental test pilot for the British armed forces.
The new recruits will begin a basic training program in September at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. They will join a new class of astronauts preparing for future space missions to the International Space Station from 2013 onwards.
The new recruits, all of whom are in their 30s, represent a new generation of European space explorers.
"I think it serves the purpose of fulfilling, in a way, humanity's drive for exploration, for expanding our boundaries, for going further and beyond all the time. I think it serves the same purpose that it served 500 years ago in the great explorations on Earth," said Samantha Cristoforetti, a 32-year-old fighter pilot for the Italian Air Force.
The six are the first new recruits to join the European Astronaut Corps since 1992. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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