Dr Rosemary Coogan is the UK’s Astronaut, trained to visit the International Space Space and undertake work there for 6 months on behalf of the UK Space Agency. As commercial space stations are built and the Artemis Moon programme develops, the possibilities for further space trips for Rose are growing.
We are recording her journey here so you can follow – maybe not just Rose’s story, but perhaps you could follow in her footsteps with your career?
Bath Astronomers have been supplying life-sized cut-outs of Rose to local schools to inspire young minds.
May 14, 2025
It takes about 45 minutes to get all her gear on before a helmet is carefully lowered over her head. The British astronaut is about to undergo her toughest challenge yet – assessing whether she is ready for a spacewalk. The test will take place in one of the largest pools in the world: Nasa’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The pool – which is 12m deep (40ft) – contains a life-sized replica of the International Space Station (ISS), and a “spacewalk” here is as close as it gets to mimicking weightlessness on Earth.
EVA Exams – underwater
Rosemary Coogan is surrounded by a team of people pushing, pulling, squishing and squeezing her into a spacesuit.
“It’s a big day,” Rosemary says before the dive, which is going to last more than six hours. “It’s very physically intense – and it’s very psychologically intense.”
Rosemary was interviewed by BBC for Instagram post and video available below.
May 13, 2025
A little bit of “In Suit Light Exercise” to get ready for a spacewalk! As part of our training, we had a full dress rehearsal of a typical spacewalk day, including exercising in the suit to purge Nitrogen from the body and decrease the risk of decompression sickness. Mission Control guides the crew through 50 minutes of this activity – what a great team warm-up!
Mar 9,2025
Ever wondered how astronauts prepare for the weightlessness of space? In Bordeaux, France, our astronauts train for microgravity using parabolic flights! These special flights create brief periods of zero gravity, mimicking the conditions of space. By performing a series of steep climbs and descents, the plane allows astronauts to experience intense 2G forces before entering a 22-second weightless phase! This crucial training helps future astronauts adapt to moving, working, and even jumping in zero gravity. Join us as we follow Rosemary Coogan, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, and John McFall on their parabolic flight training.
Experiencing zero gravity on Earth
Mar 7, 2025
Getting the right suit fit for an EVA is a delicate art! There are different sizes of upper torso, brief assembly, legs, arms and gloves, as well as extra sizing rings you can put between components. My first suit fit check went through all the basics – how to do the “runner’s stretch” into the legs, checking I could reach all the switches, valves and visors on the suit, and even just how to get in to the upper torso (this took me a few attempts the first time)! I’ve just had my second fit check, tweaking and fine-tuning, now that I’ve had the chance to train in the suit. A huge thank you to the incredibly patient suit technicians and engineers, as well as Nicole and @astro_luca for sharing their experiences
Feb 19, 2025
Spacewalk training
Dr Rosemary Coogan – Northern Ireland’s first ever astronaut – has said the space sector is “very much changing in terms of having more and more commercial partners”.
The astrophysicist, who was speaking to BBC News NI, is currently in the US for pre-assignment training and is undergoing rigorous spacewalk training.
Oct 1, 2024
Testing Moon camera
ESA astronaut Rosemary Coogan points at a lunar-like landscape with a camera designed to take pictures on the surface of the Moon during the Artemis missions.
Rosemary had the chance to handle the camera during an imagery meeting with NASA in Europe in 2023. Now, she has tested the camera’s performance in realistic scenarios for geological exploration.
“This training is teaching us how to take the right samples, make the right descriptions, and take the right photos, so the scientists have everything they need,” she says.
Sep 15, 2024
Pangaea Training
It was an eye-opening first week of PANGAEA training for Rosemary with @arnaud_astro, Norishige “Nemo” Kanai and the European Space Agency PANGAEA team! They’ve learned which geological features are important to identify and how to report them – which is especially important for future exploration missions to the Moon and beyond, where astronauts will act as the eyes of the specialists on ground. The highlights so far:
* learning how to read the story of the Dolomites over millions of years, through its rocks and outcrops (showing whether there used to be volcanic activity, rivers, lakes etc)
* finding ancient fossils of extinct reptiles in the Bletterbach canyon, and
* studying a wonderful meteorite collection brought by the experts – including some incredible Lunar and Martian samples!
May 21, 2024
First Hoppers assigned ISS mission
ESA astronauts Sophie Adenot and Raphaël Liégeois have been assigned for their first spaceflights to the International Space Station (ISS) on missions currently planned for 2026.
April 22, 2024
The Hoppers become Astronauts
Rosemary Coogan graduated together with her fellow ESA astronaut candidates Sophie Adenot, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Raphaël Liégeois and Marco Sieber and received astronaut certification at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre. This officially marked their transition into fully-fledged astronauts, ready and eligible for spaceflight.
The class of 6 astronauts were dubbed the Hoppers because of their constant hopping between buildings during training.
Nov 23, 2022
New ESA Astronauts selected
The European Space Agency chose 17 individuals to form its newest astronaut class from more than 22,500 applicants from across its Member States. The ESA astronaut class 2022 includes five astronaut candidates and 12 members of the European astronaut reserve. Rosemary Coogan is one of the astronaut candidates.
John McFall and Meganne Christian are part of the astronaut reserve. All three are from the UK.
Mar 31, 2021
Applications requested
The European Space Agency opened the application process for its first astronaut selection in over a decade.
If you met the minimum requirements and wanted to join Europe’s journey into space, this was your chance to apply.
Website esa.int/YourWayToSpace
provided everything you needed to know to prepare your application.