It’s time to celebrate ESA’s newly graduated astronauts. This Monday 22 April 2024 marked the official completion of one year of rigorous basic training for Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Sophie Adenot, Rosemary Coogan, Raphaël Liégeois, and Marco Sieber at ESA's European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.

Receiving their certification signifies their transition from astronaut candidates to fully qualified astronauts eligible for future space missions. Selected in November 2022, this group commenced their training journey in April 2023.

The basic astronaut training covered a wide range of disciplines including spacecraft systems, spacewalks, flight engineering, robotics, life support systems, survival skills, and medical training. Followed by pre-assignment and mission-specific training, it sets the stage for future missions to the International Space Station and beyond.

During the graduation ceremony, the newly graduated astronauts received their certificates together with their new space wings patch.

Patches are a long tradition as an integral part of every astronaut mission. Once assigned to a space mission, European astronauts receive a mission-specific name and patch, typically reflecting a blend of their individuality, mission objectives and artistic creativity.

Continuing a tradition among astronauts, the graduate class of 2022 also received their class name by their predecessors, the Shenanigans of 2009. So, in addition to the ESA patch, they now proudly wear a patch displaying their class name and emblem on their flight suits – the Hoppers.

The name and emblem of the Hoppers represent the journey of the 2022 class hopping from one training lesson to another, and eventually, into space – to the International Space Station, and perhaps one day, to the Moon.

It's no surprise that a grand celebration followed the graduation, complete with a delicious cake to be enjoyed by the new astronauts and the supporting teams who have helped them on their way to the stars.

Joining them in this milestone is Katherine Bennell-Pegg from the Australian Space Agency, who successfully completed the same training programme and ceremony alongside her European counterparts.

Watch the key moments from ESA basic astronaut training here and a replay of the ESA astronaut class of 2022 graduation ceremony here.