ESA’s astronauts-in-training have a busy schedule. From their base at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, they are travelling all over the world to learn the skills required to fly in space, blogging as they go.

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst has been assigned to fly to the International Space Station on a 6-month mission in 2014, serving as a flight engineer for Expeditions 40 and 41.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has graduated six new astronauts from its basic training program.

ESA's new astronaut candidates enjoyed a taste of space last Friday during a special aircraft flight in Bordeaux, France.

The European Space Agency says its six new astronaut recruits started their 18-month basic training in preparation for future space missions. The new astronauts at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany, are Samantha Cristoforetti of Milan, Italy; Alexander Gerst, from Kunzelsau, Germany; Andreas Mogensen, from Copenhagen, Denmark; Luca Parmitano, from Paterno, Italy; Timothy Peake of Chichester, England; and Thomas Pesquet of Rouen, France. The taking-up duty of the new class of ESA (astronauts) marks our commitment to a future important role for Europe in human spaceflight, said Simonetta Di Pippo, the ESA's director of human spaceflight." DiPippo said the new European astronauts began training this week and will be ready for space mission assignments around 2013. It is not enough to be a good scientist or an excellent engineer to become an astronaut, said Michel Tognini, director of the European Astronaut Center.