Austro Astronautin closed the first training session

Together with colleagues, Possnig has completed a two -month program in the European Astronaut Center (EAC) in Cologne since January. Partly were diving training and a winter survival training with one week. In the swimming pool, which is about ten meters deep, parts of the International Space Station ISS could have sunk, the doctor said. When diving, weightlessness is simulated in the room. A basic dive course was a condition for training.

“The only winter survival exercise in a National Park in the Spanish Pyrenees was even cooler,” said the potential astronaut. For example, skills such as making a fire, the construction of shelter and dealing with cold -related injuries were trained. Eventually the group had to survive 30 hours at least 15 degrees Celsius in Snowy National Park. “These exercises must prepare us for possible emergency situations such as a space capsule on a remote, difficult to reach,” said the resident of Carinthian.

Studies Space Medicine in Innsbruck
The theory units include a biology course with laboratory exercises. Possnig had investigated a year on behalf of the ESA in the French-Italian Antarctic station “Concordia”. She is currently in the last sprint of her PhD students in the field of space medicine at the University of Innsbruck.

The next phase of the training follows in the fall. This includes survival training on the high seas, a space capsule from the sea may not be found immediately, and a parabolic flight in which weightlessness is simulated. Another two -month training block is planned in 2026. The chance of actually flying into space is “a political decision,” said, among other things, and depending on the financial resources.

The five career astronauts have already received a contract with the ESA and have been trained for future space emissions for a year. The reservists, on the other hand, remain temporarily in their work.