ESA's Astronaut Reserve: Astro Chat with Carmen Possnig

Meet Carmen Possnig —medical doctor, space physiology researcher and ESA astronaut reserve member. In this episode, she shares how her time at Concordia Station in Antarctica and research into hypoxia and microgravity adaptation connect to future space habitats and missions. We talk about astronaut reserve training, winter survival in the snow and the human drive to explore. In this miniseries, we take you on a journey through the ESA Astronaut Reserve, diving into the first part of their Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) near Cologne, Germany. Our “ARTists” are immersing themselves in everything from ESA and the International Space Station programme to the European space industry and institutions. They’re gaining hands-on experience in technical skills like spacecraft systems and robotics, alongside human behaviour, scientific lessons, scuba diving and survival training. ESA’s Astronaut Reserve Training programme is all about building Europe’s next generation of space explorers—preparing them for the opportunities of future missions in Earth orbit and beyond. This interview was recorded in February 2025. Keep exploring with ESA Explores !

You can listen to ESA's Astronaut Reserve: Astro Chat with Carmen Possnig online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

ESA's Astronaut Reserve: Astro Chat with Carmen Possnig is an episode from ESA Explores by European Space Agency.

This episode is 15:50 long.

This episode was published on Nov 19, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from ESA Explores when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.