"An extraordinary atmosphere": Sophie Adenot talks about her first steps at the European Astronaut Centre

2023-05-04T17:34:26.831Z

Highlights: Sophie Adenot, lieutenant-colonel of the French air force, talks about her first steps in her new suit. Five astronauts were selected to form the new class of the European Space Agency. For the past month, they have been training at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne. 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. The first mission will be for five astronauts in 2022, each of us will have an opportunity before 2030 to make a six-month flight.

Six months ago, five astronauts were selected to form the new class of the European Space Agency. For the past month, they have been training at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne,...

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"An extraordinary atmosphere": Sophie Adenot talks about her first steps at the European Astronaut Centre

French astronaut Sophie Adenot, here on May 3, 2022, started her training at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne a month ago. © Baptiste Coulon/RFI

Text by: Baptiste Coulon

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Six months ago, five astronauts were selected to form the new class of the European Space Agency. For the past month, they have been training at the European Astronaut Centre 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 astronaut candidate. We met her in Cologne where she talks about her first steps in her new suit.

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From our special envoy in Cologne,

RFI: Hello Sophie Adenot. You are taking your first steps at the European Astronaut Centre here in Cologne, how do you feel?

Sophie Adenot: I feel super happy. It's been since I was a little girl that I dream of being here. 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 the best of myself and then enjoying each day with a good level of energy.

You had time to get to know the other four astronaut candidates in the class. How's it going?

There is an extraordinary atmosphere. We are all focused on the same goal: to acquire all the skills as a team. This training, it is of 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 be effective in our missions. So this part of stimulation and mutual aid to each other is very important. A bit like a high-level team.

The five astronaut candidates of the new class of the European Space Agency gave their first impressions after a month of training at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne. From left to right: Belgian Raphaël Liégeois, Swiss Marco Sieber, France's Sophie Adenot, Spain's Pablo Álvarez Fernández, England's Rosemary Coogan and at the centre Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency, on May 3, 2022. © Baptiste Coulon/RFI

This training, precisely, it is intense, it is varied. What exactly does it look like?

Indeed, it is a training that is very varied and that for a year will allow us to have the skills and basic knowledge to then be assigned to a space mission. It requires theoretical knowledge: we have just finished for example the biology module, but also some practical work to learn how to work in a sterile environment, how to handle pipettes, how to do experiments. The greatest work of astronauts aboard 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 pool to learn about spacewalks. There are also survival, maritime survival, cold weather survival modules, to be able to get out 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 right away. 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 path, whatever the destination. For me, training is already part of the adventure. So no matter when I'm assigned to a mission, I'm already happy on a day-to-day basis to learn new skills, to contribute to these space exploration missions. The first mission for the five astronauts in my class will be a mission to the International Space Station. And each of us will have an opportunity before 2030 to make a six-month flight aboard the International Space Station. And then, my faith, I think there is no manual or book that can write in advance what will happen in space exploration. We are in a period of change and I think we will have some nice surprises in the years to come.

"An extraordinary atmosphere": Sophie Adenot talks about her first steps at the European Astronaut Centre

"An extraordinary atmosphere": Sophie Adenot talks about her first steps at the European Astronaut Centre

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