Andreas Mogensen, the first Dane to enter the room, will return soon.
After a 10-day stay at the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015, Mogensen plans to return on a six-month mission – either in July 2023 or more likely in 2024.
The best thing for the astronaut is that this time he will be the mission chief and pilot of the crew.
The news was announced today at the Space Conference 2022 at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in Lyngby.
ESA and NASA collaboration
His next mission will be launched from the United States – the first time he left Earth was from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
He will travel there aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft designed by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.
This mission is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA.
Mogensen has in recent years been stationed at NASA in Houston, Texas.
“He has acted as a liaison between ESA and NASA. So it is a collaboration between ESA and NASA, and they are the ones who make the plans for who goes and when, ”explained Michael Linden-Vørnle, astrophysicist and chief consultant at DTU Space, at the conference.
A reward for his own merit
It is good news for Denmark that Mogensen will now be sent into space again, but it is first and foremost a result of the astronaut’s own merit that he has been selected, says Professor John Leif Jørgensen, head of department at DTU Space.
“Denmark does not usually be at the front of the queue when ESA presents gifts, because we only pay a very small contribution to ESA. That Andreas Mogensen was elected in the first place was a big surprise for many, ”Jørgensen commented at the conference.
“He has proven to be good at making things work and getting people to work together, so ESA has now chosen him again.”
Mogensen is currently a reserve pilot for a mission in 2023 (crew-6). This means that if the selected pilot can not walk, he will take his place. Otherwise, he travels to the ISS in 2024.
Source: The Nordic Page