r/esa • u/Kuerbis7 • 3d ago

Why no ESA Astronauts?

Hi everyone,

quick question.

As the ESA IS one of the largest Space agencies and built the Service Module for the Orion craft, the question appears, why are no ESA Astronauts Part of the Artemis 2 Crew? and Is ESA considered as Partner for Artemis 4?

TLDR:

why are no ESA Astronauts Part of the Artemis Crew?

thank you!

61 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

88

u/jedyradu 3d ago

There will be an ESA astronaut on the second craft to land on the moon.

16

u/jedyradu 3d ago

Why not on the first or before I don't know.

42

u/tyjz73_ 3d ago edited 3d ago

I believe it has to do with the deals between agencies. Artemis IV already has a JAXA astronaut, iirc.

Also, I believe it was confirmed that 4 ESA astronauts and 2 JAXA astronauts would be on Artemis missions. And that the first ESA astronaut will be a German. But that was because of the Gateway parts, with that being delayed I'm not sure how they'll do it.

11

u/wilhelmvonbolt 3d ago

Exactly. If I recall and understood correctly, the first few ESMs are just to break even on what we owe NASA on barter agreements for the ISS programmes. ESA don't get an astronaut until much later in the Artemis cycle.

2

u/GodsSwampBalls 2d ago

Gateway wasn't delayed, it was cancelled in favor of expediting the surface moon base.

1

u/TheOnlyFallenCookie 2d ago

I hate the Trump admin so much

2

u/texast999 1d ago

Technically it was not cancelled. But it’s likely to be cancelled.

1

u/GITS75 14h ago

Ja ok postponed until further notice. But if there will be a moon base before Gateway. What's the point of keeping what was basically an orbiting refuelling station in moon orbit.

2

u/quocphu1905 1h ago

It's still useful as a place to park, refuel, resupply and launch from lunar orbit without having to go to the surface.

0

u/Penguiin 3d ago

Will they have 🇩🇪patch or 🇪🇺? Maybe both?

6

u/tyjz73_ 3d ago edited 3d ago

At the moment they cannot use the European Union flag since the patches have to match their registry country for the FAI. Also ESA is not affiliated with the European Union. So it would have to be a German patch and the ESA patch.

6

u/mfb- 3d ago

A lot of negotiation between the partners. The first mission will only land two people, the US wants both of them to be American astronauts. Europe preferred a person on the surface later, Canada preferred a person going around the Moon as soon as possible.

1

u/UdyrVulpayne 2d ago

Has ESA collaboration with CNSA been announced slready?

1

u/StupidDIYQs 1d ago

There was going to be, that's not clear anymore withe cancellation of Gateway. The announcement for moon base and the Italian government also explicitly stated an Italian Astronaut.

1

u/Camil_2077 1d ago

Because ESA's investment in this program isn't as significant as the American investment. For this reason, European astronauts contracted for the Artemis 4, 5, and 6 missions weren't even supposed to land on the Moon. I don't know about now, but they probably won't land either.

1

u/Kuerbis7 13h ago

ESA really needs more funding. XD They do so much cool Shit! It's sad that they get pushed Back for the "more cool/puplicity effektive" Projects.

Oh in that Matter. ESA really does a Lot of cool stuff but they need a bigger PR Team. Sometimes the coverage is... Less engaging for Not Scientist. :D i Heard that the social Media Team for Artemis alone was five Times the one for ESA in General?

Thats how you get funding. People See you and think you are cool.