Sophie Adenot recounts the beginnings of her astronaut training in Germany

Before boarding a rocket, it is on a bicycle that Sophie Adenot arrives every morning. For the past month, with her class of apprentice astronauts, she has been returning to school. 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, Sophie Adenot will train on board 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.

Relay by Thomas Pesquet

Colombus is above all a European laboratory, located 400 km above our heads. Specific manipulations will be carried out, 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. “Sophie 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”, she says. Sophie Adenot will take over from Thomas Pesquet for a six-month stay in the space station, between 2026 and 2030.