The European Space Agency announced Wednesday in Paris that the new batch of graduating astronauts includes three men and two women from five European countries, out of about 23,000 candidates.
This batch succeeds the one in 2009 that sparked enthusiasm for space adventure among European youth, which included six astronauts, including one woman, the Italian Samantha Cristoforetti.
The batch of 2022 was announced on Wednesday, the last day of the ministerial meeting of the 22 member states of the European Space Agency, and includes five people: British Rosemary Cogen, French Sophie Adino, Spanish Pablo Alvarez Fernandez, Belgian Rafael Leygua and Swiss Marco Alan Siber.
According to AFP, the agency has also announced a budget of nearly 17 billion euros for the next three years.