ONE GIANT LEAP
UK astronaut Rosemary Coogan to become 3rd Brit ever to fly to space as she follows in Tim Peake’s steps
Watch Rosemary Coogan explain more about her background in the video below
THE UK has welcomed its third-ever homegrown astronaut today, as Rosemary Coogan graduates and gets one step closer towards spaceflight.
Having completed her European Space Agency (ESA) training today, Coogan becomes one of the ESA's first recruits in more than a decade.
3
3
3
The 33-year-old, from Belfast, was selected as an ESA astronaut candidate from a sea of over 22,500 applicants in 2022.
Since then, she has been training at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, undergoing rigorous G-force and underwater 'microgravity' testing.
From dreaming about space to now being one step closer to reaching it, I'm filled with gratitude and determination to make the most of this extraordinary opportunity.
Rosemary Coogan, ESA astronaut
European space chiefs have said that Coogan is “among the best” in her class of astronauts, five of whom will join her in graduating.
Josef Aschbacher, the agency’s director-general, told The Times before the ceremony: “Certainly she has done extremely well.”
READ MORE ON SPACE
“They will all fly to the [International] space station in this decade," he added.
"Once they are assigned to a mission, they still need to undergo special training for that particular mission, which lasts another two years or so.”
The last Brit in space was Tim Peake, who travelled to the space station in 2015.
The second Brit in space: Who is Tim Peake?
Astronaut-turned-author Tim Peake, 52, was the second Brit to make it to space in December 2015.
The former Army Air Corps officer became the first British ESA astronaut to travel in space when his mission was launched on Soyuz TMA-19M.
He also became the first Briton to complete a spacewalk outside the ISS in 2016.
Sussex-born Peake beat over 8,000 other applicants for one of the six places on the ESA's astronaut training programme.
He has racked up a total of 185 days, 22 hours and 11 minutes in space so far in his astronaut career.
In 2023, Peake announced he would be coming out of retirement after just eight months to lead a British-only team of astronauts on a commercial spaceflight with Axiom Space.
Coogan has described her graduation moment as "incredibly moving", adding that she's ready to "embrace the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead".
Most read in Science
"From dreaming about space to now being one step closer to reaching it, I'm filled with gratitude and determination to make the most of this extraordinary opportunity," she said.
Coogan is set to take part in operational tasks on the ground until she is assigned to a mission off-planet and aboard the International Space Station.
The newly-graduated-astronaut has been trained to conduct scientific experiments aboard the ISS.
Astronaut Rosemary Coogan 'among best' in her class & could fly to space by 2030
Experiments aboard the ISS have fuelled a number of scientific breakthroughs, such the discovery of new water purification systems, steadily burning cool flames, drug development and how microgravity changes the human body.
Andrew Griffith, the UK's Minister for Space, said: “Our congratulations to British astronaut, Rosemary Coogan, on getting her astronaut ‘wings’ as she graduates from her year-long basic space training with the European Space agency in Cologne.
“It’s a proud moment for the UK which will inspire many more here and beyond to see that the sky need not be the limit of their ambitions."
The first Brit in space: Helen Sharman
Helen Sharman, 60, became the first British person to travel to space - as well as the first woman to visit the Mir space station, in May 1991.
After achieving her chemistry PhD in 1987, Sharman responded to a radio advert looking for applications to be Britain's first-ever space explorer.
Sheffield-born Sharman was picked live on ITV in November 1989, ahead of roughly 13,000 other applicants.
As part of Project Juno, Sharman spent a total of seven days, 21 hours and 13 minutes in space.
Sharman inspired an entire generation of women to believe that they too could work towards getting people to space.
Vinita Marwaha Madill, a young woman who’s worked in spacesuit design for the European Space Agency, said of Sharman's work: “Knowing that there had been a British astronaut, female at that, helped me push through any negativity around my chosen career path when I was younger.
"Even if the career councillor at school wanted me to become a dentist, I knew that I wanted to be an astronaut, or at least work in human spaceflight.”
Find out more about science
Want to know more about the weird and wonderful world of science? From the Moon to the human body, we have you covered...
- When is the next Full Moon?
- What is a Super Moon?
- What is SpaceX?
- Where is the edge of space?
- How many bones are in the human body?
- How many chromosomes do humans have?
- What causes a volcano to erupt?
- Which sharks attack the most humans?
- What are the conspiracy theories about the world ending?
- All the UFO sightings and whether aliens are real
- Which country has the most earthquakes?