He jokes that he is “still a very terrestrial astronaut” because he has not gone into space: “We could aspire to go to the Moon”
Dec. 25 () –
Astronaut Pablo Álvarez has ruled out that the Spanish Space Agency is dedicated to the training of astronauts, a task that is in charge of the European Space Agency (ESA).
“There is no space agency in Europe that is a member of the European Space Agency and that has its own astronauts. In the past, before ’92, each country did train its own astronaut but I think it would make no sense to do so,” Álvarez settled in an interview with Europa Press.
In this sense, he specified that “there are very few agencies in the world that are capable of providing training like that needed by an astronaut” and he has assessed that experience “is very necessary”, so, by having the Agency European Space Agency, of which Spain is another Member State, considers that “it makes no sense to invest in that”: “There are many things that can be done.”
In November 2022, the Spaniard was selected as an ESA astronaut candidate. It began its one-year basic training program in April 2023.
Basic astronaut training provides candidates with general familiarization and training in various areas, such as spacecraft systems, spacewalks, flight engineering, robotics and life support systems, as well as training in survival and medicine.
Pablo Álvarez obtained certification as an astronaut at the ESA European Astronaut Center on April 22, 2024, making him eligible for spaceflight assignments.
The most “strange” thing about his training has been learning space law, astronomy, fluid mechanics courses and equations “so complex” that they gave him “nightmares” when he was studying aeronautics. “The survival training has also been different from what I expected, in that it is really quite hard and you learn different techniques to survive,” he added.
After an intense six-month training, in November 2024 he completed his basic EVA (Extravehicular Activities) certification at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston, Texas at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
HE WILL CONTINUE HIS TRAINING WHILE WAITING TO BE ASSIGNED TO A MISSION
In 2025, the Spaniard will continue his pre-assignment preparation with key activities such as robotics training in Canada, Eurocom training (in conjunction with Sophie Adenot’s mission) or aircraft piloting training.
Pablo Álvarez, who is waiting to be assigned a mission to be able to travel to the International Space Station, defines himself as a “very terrestrial astronaut yet” because he has not gone out into space, although he has already met “many milestones” throughout his training such as the first day at ESA, when he finished basic training, graduation, when he went to Houston, when he put on the astronaut suit for the first time or when he got into the pool with the suit.
Although his training is destined to spend six months on the International Space Station, the Spanish astronaut does not rule out traveling to the Moon one day.
Thus, he explained that ESA is designing the future Gateway Lunar Station together with NASA. “We are also very involved in the Artemis program and, at the moment, there are three seats for Europeans in Artemis that will be for astronauts who already have experience in a long-duration mission on the International Space Station, but later we could aspire to one of those Artemis missions to return to the Moon. But hey, I’m going to go step by step, there’s still a long way to go,” he acknowledged.
THE SUITS ARE “A HUMAN-FORMED SPACESHIP”
When putting on the space suit, Pablo Álvarez detailed to Europa Press that he feels “a mixture of disbelief, pride, of realizing little by little that it is becoming something real.” “They are suits designed to survive in the vacuum of space, it is a human-shaped spaceship, but they are also tremendously uncomfortable, they are not made to make you comfortable inside,” he assured.
For the Spanish astronaut, these suits, which were designed in the 80s, “are very good, they are very complex and they are unique equipment in the world.” “New spacesuits are now being developed for future lunar exploration and low-Earth orbit missions, because there are about eleven spacesuits left of the 18 that were originally manufactured and they are aging little by little,” he explained.
He has also clarified that currently the population of astronauts, “luckily”, is more or less 50 percent men and 50 percent women, so it is necessary “smaller sizes so that they can be used by everyone under equal conditions.” “: “We need new suits.”
The ESA astronaut has encouraged Spanish children to study scientific careers since the job they will have later will be “a job of discovery, of exploration in which every day they will learn something new”, something that, in his opinion, “It’s exciting.”
PABLO ÁLVAREZ, AN EXAMPLE FOR THE NEW GENERATIONS
“I loved the job I had before and then the advice I always give them is to take advantage of all the opportunities that come to them, to do it on a recurring basis and, when you take advantage of all the opportunities you have, life takes you to places.” that you can’t even imagine,” he said.
When asked about the responsibility of being a role model for the new generations, Pablo Álvarez opts for using that “to be a better person” and also trying to become something as close as possible to the image that children may have of a astronaut. “I think it’s a positive thing if you can use it to improve yourself,” he said.
Regarding Spanish growth in the aerospace sector, he believes that Spain is “an emerging power in some way.” In this context, he stressed that there are examples of many Spanish companies, among which PLD stands out with the Miura that will allow Europe to take a leap in its spatial independence or Sener, which has led Proba-3, the Sun observation satellite. .
“We have Airbus, Thales, Deimos, GMV. There are many very powerful and very good companies. Spanish companies are always on the verge of getting more contracts because all the ESA money is already reinvested in Spain. Yes If we invested more in the European Space Agency, those companies would have even more weight,” concluded the Spanish astronaut.
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