Who wants to go to the moon? Europe names astronaut candidates
The European Space Agency announced a team of seven astronauts on Wednesday to train for NASA's Artemis mission to the moon -- but only one will have the chance to become the first European to walk on the lunar surface.
The candidates -- France's Thomas Pesquet, Britain's Tim Peake, Germany's Alexander Gerst and Matthias Maurer, Italy's Luca Parmitano and Samantha Cristoforetti, and Denmark's Andreas Mogensen -- have all completed at least one mission on board the International Space Station.
Between them, the team has the equivalent of 4.5 years in orbit and 98 hours of spacewalking, ESA communications head Philippe Willekens told journalists at the International Astronautical Congress in Paris.
Three of the astronauts will be selected to go to the Lunar Gateway, a planned station that will orbit the moon.
But only one will set foot on the moon by the end of the decade. At some point, the ESA will have to decide which of the seven candidates will get to go.
"We're all candidates and what matters is to go there as a team," Pesquet told reporters at the event in Paris.
"Look, we're all wearing the same shirt," he added. Pesquet, Gerst, Maurer and Parmitano all attended wearing a navy blue polo shirt with ESA and Artemis logos.
Cristoforetti had to video call in from space, where she is currently onboard the ISS after becoming the first European woman to embark on a spacewalk outside the station in July.
Mogensen also spoke over video as he prepares for his own tour onboard the ISS.
The launch of the first Artemis mission, which is uncrewed and aims to test out a new rocket system and Orion capsule, has been delayed several times due to technical glitches including a fuel leak. NASA is now targeting September 27 for launch.
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