• Question: How was the European Astronaut Centre?

    Asked by Theobssessedfangirl:) to Simon, Julia, Delma, Andrew, Alex on 7 Dec 2015.
    • Photo: Andrew Winnard

      Andrew Winnard answered on 7 Dec 2015:


      I used to drive into a operational active space center every day, having to go passed security posts to get in – pretty exciting

      I would park up in the parking lot and sometimes find an astronaut parking in the next bay to walk into work with, which would be awesome 😀

      I would then go an work in a big office with flight surgeons and biomedical engineers and astronaut trainers!

      I worked on a project all about trying to monitor how astronauts movements changed before and after spaceflight.

      Sometimes I would get to goto meetings with the astronauts, or have a coffee with them

      Occasionally I could go into the control room and watch things happening on ISS or get to have a go on the training simulators, like when I had a go at piloting a Soyuz!

      At the end of the day once every week I could go in the really deep pool where they train astronauts to do spacewalks and go for swim just for fun!

      I got to live in Germany and learn all about another language and culture which was great too!

      If you want to work there like I did, then you can apply for internships or young graduate trainee opportunities once you goto university! They are all listed on the ESA website: http://www.esa.int/

    • Photo: Julia Attias

      Julia Attias answered on 9 Dec 2015:


      @Theobssessedfangirl:),

      The EAC is amazing!! Every time I go there I feel “at home”, and feel like it is where I want to be. Full of exciting people to talk with and work with and lots of cool rocket mock-ups all over the place! Have a look at my profile for some pics 🙂

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