first steps at the European Astronaut Center

Before boarding a rocket, it is on a bicycle that Sophia Adeno arrives every morning. For a month, with his class of apprentice astronauts, it’s back on the school benches. Courses in biology, orbital space mechanics, or the study of solar radiation on the body. “No two days are alike. I’m almost there like a child in a toy store. It’s wonderful, I want to learn everything, watch everything, understand everything”says the astronaut to the ESA (European Space Agency).

During this first year of basic training, SophiaAdeno will train aboard a replica of the European part of the International Space Station. On the wall, cans, or dehydrated soups, his future diet for six months. In weightlessness, its bed will be vertical.

From missions in Afghanistan to those in space

Colombus is above all a European laboratory, located 400 km above our heads. Specific manipulations, specific to the future missions of the five new European astronauts. For this, they also rely on the unique experience of their tutor. This seasoned astronaut was commander of the ISS. “Sophia has extensive operational experience”underlines Alexander Gerst, astronaut at the ESA.

At 40, the former Air Force pilot intends to go from missions in Afghanistan to those in space, without ever forgetting his little boy. “He is simply happy for his mum. He sees me come home with a smile like that”recount Sophia Adeno. She will take over from Thomas Pesquet for a six-month stay in the space station, between 2026 and 2030.