Overview

• Eight reserve members, five women and three men from seven countries, trained over the weekend in Rostock’s harbor basin.
• Exercises included abseiling into a boat, swimming in survival suits, paddling with a life raft, and firing signal flares to practice off-course splashdown scenarios.
• The participants are part of ESA’s 2022 astronaut reserve, which receives multi-week training blocks while remaining eligible for shorter missions or potential call-ups.
• The session was led by ISC Training & Assembly, whose managing director emphasized teamwork in sea emergencies and said two people the firm trained earlier have since been selected for space missions.
• This was the third astronaut sea-survival course held in Rostock and complements other modules such as winter survival and recent parabolic flights.