Belgian astronaut Raphael Liegeois selected to fly to International Space Station in 2026, the European Space Agency announced . He will become the third Belgian in space after Dirk Freemouth and Frank de Vigny, reported the Belgian news agency Belga, quoted by BTA.
Liegeois, 36, will travel to the ISS with her French colleague Sophie Adeno. They will conduct scientific experiments and medical research, observe Earth, and conduct station management and maintenance activities.
In an interview with Belga, Liegeois said it is expected to depart for the ISS around September 2026 for a six-month mission. He will train for the mission at the US space agency NASA in Houston, Texas.
Raphael Liegeois will be the third Belgian astronaut in space. Dirk Freemouth was the first in 1992 and Frank de Vigny the second (in 2002 and 2009). De Vigny is currently the director of ESA's Astronaut Training Center in Cologne, where Liegeois and four other recently graduated astronauts do most of their basic training. They received their diplomas on April 22.
„I will be very happy if I can inspire people or make them dream the way I dreamed about the launches and space journeys of Dirk Freemouth and Frank de Vigny,”, Liegeois said. He added that he wanted to make the space mission a “collective adventure, not just a personal one”.