Axiom Mission Carrying First ESA Project Astronaut Launched angielski

While the launch was routine, the “project astronaut” designation given to Wandt for his mission to the ISS is a new one.

The Swedish astronaut was selected as part of the most recent ESA astronaut class, which was announced in November 2022. He was, however, not among the five career astronauts and was instead selected as one of 11 reserve astronauts. While this should have put him on the bench while career astronauts prepared for missions to the ISS, Sweden made the decision to purchase a flight for Wandt directly from Axiom, a commercial spaceflight provider that utilizes SpaceX Crew Dragon missions. While this process was conducted outside agency channels, because Wandt was selected as an ESA reserve astronaut, Sweden was obliged to involve the agency in accordance with the European Astronaut Policy. While the arrangement does allow Wandt to become an ESA astronaut temporarily, he is employed under a fixed-term contract that will be concluded on this return to Earth. He will then rejoin the ranks of astronaut reserves.