2023-05-03 18:32:00
Just a month ago, Sophie Adenot, 40, swapped her Air and Space Force lieutenant-colonel uniform for a European Space Agency (ESA) suit, which she joined the elite corps in November. From the European Astronaut Center (EAC), in Cologne (Germany), where she now trains, she confides in her new life.
What have you been doing since your arrival in Cologne?
SOPHIE ADENOT. For the moment, we are five astronaut candidates following what is called basic training. It is, for one year, a compendium of several subjects that will be necessary to acquire skills and be assigned to a mission. There is as much basic science, biology, astronomy, as operational skills, with the start of swimming pool training, the start of survival courses. There are also collective training sessions to be able to really create a close-knit team that will be able to test these space exploration missions with all the constraints that this may represent.
What will happen next?
Past this year of basic training which gives us a global view, there is mission specific training. It only starts once the person is assigned to it. These are two years during which we will learn concretely to operate with the normal procedures, the emergency procedures, the equipment that is on board the International Space Station. (ISS)…
That leaves little free time… What do you do with it?
What is important, I think, when you have a very intense training like this, is to keep your feet on the ground (laughs) and to feel good in your sneakers. So you have to create time slots where you can take your mind off things and get back into the game for the next training session. And, for me, it goes through sport, a lot of sport. I have three constants – running, cycling and yoga – but, beyond that, I always explore other things, martial arts, kitesurfing…
You served in the army in Afghanistan. Today, war is raging in Ukraine. Do you devote time to following the news or do you already have your head in the stars?
No, I think it’s important to stay connected to what’s going on. The astronauts, when they are on board the ISS, all evoke the fact that they feel they belong to a planet more than to a country. So it seems fundamental to me to be really connected to the understanding of what is happening on Earth in order to then convey messages of peaceful cooperation, preservation of the environment… I don’t follow the news as much as some because my training is dense of course, but I remain a minimum connected. It is important.
You talk about the environment. A few days ago, a complaint has been filed in the United States after the launch of the Starship rocket and the damage it caused. How do you compare to that?
This is a real topic and thank you for asking the question. To tell you how much it touches me, I like to quote a sentence from Claudie Haigneré which asks two questions: which children will we leave to our planet and which planet will we leave to our children? Everyone, at their level, must do everything they can to take care of this planet. Whether it’s individual steps like cycling to work, using public transport, trying to minimize your carbon footprint. And this is my case. I try to do my best in view of the missions entrusted to me. As an institution, ESA is fully committed to protecting the environment and understanding climate change, in particular through the collection of data by satellite: 30% of the agency’s budget is earmarked for this issue, c is much more than is allocated to spaceflight! It helps to develop technologies that will be used later, for example technologies for recycling CO2 to transform it into oxygen. They will be tested on board the ISS and during future lunar missions. We are fully aware that we all have our part in this new paradigm.
Will you be in France for July 14?
Yes, I will be in France. I cannot give all the intricacies of the program because I do not know them myself. But, yes, it’s important for me to be alongside the French.
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