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John McFall | Prosthetics, possibility & parabolic flights | ESA Explores #16
Meet John McFall – Paralympian, medical doctor and member of ESA’s Astronaut Reserve. As part of ESA’s groundbreaking FLY initiative, John is helping prove that physical disability is no barrier to space. In this episode, he shares the results of a feasibility study showing no technical showstoppers for flying to the International Space Station with a prosthesis and talks about what’s next—from hardware certification and scientific proposals to astronaut reserve training and running in microgravity.
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.
You can listen to this episode on all major podcast platforms.
Keep exploring with ESA Explores!
Paxi and the start of the great space adventure
English: Paxi and the Start of the Great Space Adventure
Join Paxi on a journey through time! Learn how humans first started exploring space, why countries in Europe teamed up to create the European Space Agency (ESA), what ESA does today, and how kids can be part of the adventure.
Czech: Paxi a Začátek velkého vesmírného dobrodružství
Vydejte se s Paxi na cestu časem! Dozvíte se, jak lidé začali zkoumat vesmír, proč se evropské země spojily a založily Evropskou kosmickou agenturu (ESA), čím se ESA dnes zabývá a jak se děti mohou zapojit do tohoto dobrodružství.
Danish: Paxi og begyndelsen på det store rumeventyr
Tag med Paxi på en rejse gennem tiden! Lær, hvordan mennesket begyndte at udforske rummet, hvorfor lande i Europa gik sammen om at oprette Den Europæiske Rumorganisation (ESA), hvad ESA laver i dag, og hvordan børn kan være en del af eventyret.
Dutch: Paxi en het begin van het grote ruimteavontuur
Ga met Paxi mee op een reis door de tijd! Ontdek hoe mensen voor het eerst de ruimte gingen verkennen, waarom Europese landen samen de Europese Ruimtevaartorganisatie (ESA) hebben opgericht, wat ESA vandaag de dag doet en hoe kinderen deel kunnen uitmaken van dit avontuur.
Estonian: Paxi ja suure kosmoseseikluse algus
Liitu Paxiga ajarännakule! Õpi, kuidas inimesed hakkasid kosmost uurima, miks Euroopa riigid ühinesid Euroopa Kosmoseagentuuri (ESA) loomiseks, mida ESA täna teeb ja kuidas lapsed saavad sellest seiklusest osa võtta.
Finnish: Paxi ja suuren avaruusseikkailun alku
Lähde Paxin kanssa matkalle ajassa taaksepäin! Opi, miten ihmiset alkoivat tutkia avaruutta, miksi Euroopan maat perustivat yhdessä Euroopan avaruusjärjestön (ESA), mitä ESA tekee nykyään ja miten lapset voivat osallistua seikkailuun.
French: Paxi et le début de la grande aventure spatiale
Rejoignez Paxi dans un voyage à travers le temps ! Découvrez comment les humains ont commencé à explorer l'espace, pourquoi les pays européens se sont associés pour créer l'Agence spatiale européenne (ESA), ce que fait l'ESA aujourd'hui et comment les enfants peuvent participer à l'aventure.
German: Paxi und der Beginn des großen Weltraumabenteuers
Begleite Paxi auf einer Reise durch die Zeit! Erfahre, wie die Menschen begannen, den Weltraum zu erforschen, warum sich europäische Länder zusammengeschlossen haben, um die Europäische Weltraumorganisation (ESA) zu gründen, was die ESA heute macht und wie Kinder Teil dieses Abenteuers werden können.
Greek: Ο Πάξι και η αρχή της μεγάλης διαστημικής περιπέτειας
Ελάτε μαζί με τον Paxi σε ένα ταξίδι στο χρόνο! Μάθετε πώς οι άνθρωποι άρχισαν να εξερευνούν το διάστημα, γιατί οι χώρες της Ευρώπης συνεργάστηκαν για να δημιουργήσουν τον Ευρωπαϊκό Οργανισμό Διαστήματος (ESA), τι κάνει σήμερα ο ESA και πώς τα παιδιά μπορούν να συμμετάσχουν σε αυτή την περιπέτεια.
Hungrarian: Paxi és a nagy űrkaland kezdete
Csatlakozz Paxihoz egy időutazásra! Tudj meg, hogyan kezdték el az emberek az űr kutatását, miért álltak össze az európai országok az Európai Űrügynökség (ESA) létrehozására, mit csinál ma az ESA, és hogyan vehetnek részt a gyerekek is ebben a kalandban.
Italian: Paxi e l’inizio della grande avventura nello Spazio
Unisciti a Paxi in un viaggio attraverso il tempo! Scopri come gli esseri umani hanno iniziato a esplorare lo spazio, perché i paesi europei hanno collaborato per creare l'Agenzia Spaziale Europea (ESA), cosa fa oggi l'ESA e come i bambini possono partecipare a questa avventura.
Norwegian: Paxi og starten på det store romeventyret
Bli med Paxi på en reise gjennom tiden! Lær hvordan menneskene først begynte å utforske verdensrommet, hvorfor landene i Europa gikk sammen om å opprette Den europeiske romorganisasjonen (ESA), hva ESA gjør i dag, og hvordan barn kan være med på eventyret.
Polish: Paxi i początek wielkiej kosmicznej przygody
Dołącz do Paxi w podróży przez czas! Dowiedz się, jak ludzie zaczęli odkrywać kosmos, dlaczego kraje europejskie połączyły siły, aby stworzyć Europejską Agencję Kosmiczną (ESA), czym zajmuje się obecnie ESA i jak dzieci mogą wziąć udział w tej przygodzie.
Portuguese: Paxi e o início da grande aventura espacial
Junte-se a Paxi numa viagem pelo tempo! Saiba como os humanos começaram a explorar o espaço, por que os países da Europa se uniram para criar a Agência Espacial Europeia (ESA), o que a ESA faz hoje e como as crianças podem fazer parte dessa aventura.
Romanian: Paxi și începutul marii aventuri spațiale
Alătură-te lui Paxi într-o călătorie în timp! Află cum au început oamenii să exploreze spațiul, de ce țările din Europa s-au asociat pentru a crea Agenția Spațială Europeană (ESA), ce face ESA astăzi și cum pot copiii să participe la această aventură.
Slovenian: Paxi in začetek velike vesoljske pustolovščine
Pridružite se Paxiju na potovanju skozi čas! Spoznajte, kako so ljudje začeli raziskovati vesolje, zakaj so se evropske države združile in ustanovile Evropsko vesoljsko agencijo (ESA), kaj ESA počne danes in kako lahko otroci sodelujejo v tej pustolovščini.
Spanish: Paxi y el comienzo de la gran aventura espacial
¡Acompaña a Paxi en un viaje a través del tiempo! Descubre cómo los seres humanos comenzaron a explorar el espacio, por qué los países europeos se unieron para crear la Agencia Espacial Europea (ESA), qué hace la ESA hoy en día y cómo los niños pueden formar parte de la aventura.
Swedish: Paxi & början på det stora rymdäventyret
Följ med Paxi på en resa genom tiden! Lär dig hur människan började utforska rymden, varför länderna i Europa gick samman för att bilda Europeiska rymdorganisationen (ESA), vad ESA gör idag och hur barn kan vara med på äventyret.
Copernicus Sentinel-1D journey to space
The Copernicus Sentinel-1D satellite has joined the Sentinel-1 mission in orbit. Launch took place on 4 November 2025 at 22:02 CET (18:02 local time) on board an Ariane 6 launcher from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
The Sentinel-1 mission delivers high-resolution radar images of Earth’s surface, performing in all weathers, day-and-night. This service is used by disaster response teams, environmental agencies, maritime authorities and climate scientists, who depend on frequent updates of critical data.
Sentinel-1D will work in tandem with Sentinel-1C, flying in the same orbit but 180° apart, to optimise global coverage and data delivery. Both satellites have a C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) instrument on board, which captures high-resolution imagery of Earth’s surface. They are also equipped with Automatic Identification System (AIS) instruments to improve detection and tracking of ships. When Sentinel-1D is fully operational, it will enable more frequent AIS observations, including data on vessel identity, location and direction of passage, enabling precise tracking.
Sentinel-1D was launched on Europe’s heavy-lift rocket Ariane 6 on flight designated VA265.
Read full story: Copernicus Sentinel-1D reaches orbit on Ariane 6
Access the related broadcast quality video material: Sentinel-1D launch on Ariane 6 - VA265 / Sentinel-1 mission animations
Week in images: 03-07 November 2025
Week in images: 03-07 November 2025
Discover our week through the lens
ESA satellites track progress on Paris Agreement goals
As the United Nations COP30 climate change conference convenes in Belém, Brazil, the world's attention will turn to the heart of the Amazon rainforest – a region that symbolises both hope and concern in the fight against climate change.
Once considered one of Earth's most vital carbon sinks, the Amazon is now showing troubling signs – satellite observations reveal that parts of this vast ecosystem are no longer absorbing carbon dioxide as they once did. In some areas, the forest has even become a net source of carbon emissions.
Earth from Space: Branco River, Brazil
Insects on the space menu
Long before humans reached orbit, insects had already shown they could handle the hurdles of spaceflight. Light, highly adaptable and nutritionally rich, these resilient animals present an attractive option for European researchers studying reliable food sources for long-duration missions.
ESA’s HydroGNSS Scout satellites ready for launch
After arriving at the California launch site at the end of September, the two HydroGNSS satellites have been carefully prepared for liftoff, scheduled this month.
HydroGNSS – a twin-satellite mission – marks the European Space Agency’s first ‘Scout’ venture. By harnessing signals from navigation satellites, HydroGNSS will help scientists gain new insights into key climate variables linked to water.
Euclid peers through a dark cloud’s dusty veil
This shimmering view of interstellar gas and dust was captured by the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope. The nebula is part of a so-called dark cloud, named LDN 1641. It sits at about 1300 light-years from Earth, within a sprawling complex of dusty gas clouds where stars are being formed, in the constellation of Orion.
In visible light this region of the sky appears mostly dark, with few stars dotting what seems to be a primarily empty background. But, by imaging the cloud with the infrared eyes of its NISP instrument, Euclid reveals a multitude of stars shining through a tapestry of dust and gas.
This is because dust grains block visible light from stars behind them very efficiently but are much less effective at dimming near-infrared light.
The nebula is teeming with very young stars. Some of the objects embedded in the dusty surroundings spew out material – a sign of stars being formed. The outflows appear as magenta-coloured spots and coils when zooming into the image.
In the upper left, obstruction by dust diminishes and the view opens toward the more distant Universe with many galaxies lurking beyond the stars of our own galaxy.
Euclid observed this region of the sky in September 2023 to fine-tune its pointing ability. For the guiding tests, the operations team required a field of view where only a few stars would be detectable in visible light; this portion of LDN 1641 proved to be the most suitable area of the sky accessible to Euclid at the time.
The tests were successful and helped ensure that Euclid could point reliably and very precisely in the desired direction. This ability is key to delivering extremely sharp astronomical images of large patches of sky, at a fast pace. The data for this image, which is about 0.64 square degrees in size – or more than three times the area of the full Moon on the sky – were collected in just under five hours of observations.
Euclid is surveying the sky to create the most extensive 3D map of the extragalactic Universe ever made. Its main objective is to enable scientists to pin down the mysterious nature of dark matter and dark energy.
Yet the mission will also deliver a trove of observations of interesting regions in our galaxy, like this one, as well as countless detailed images of other galaxies, offering new avenues of investigation in many different fields of astronomy.
[Technical details: The colour image was created from NISP observations in the Y-, J- and H-bands, rendered blue, green and red, respectively. The size of the image is 11 232 x 12 576 pixels. The jagged boundary is due to the gaps in the array of NISP’s sixteen detectors, and the way the observations were taken with small spatial offsets and rotations to create the whole image. This is a common effect in astronomical wide-field images.]
[Image description: The focus of the image is a portion of LDN 1641, an interstellar nebula in the constellation of Orion. In this view, a deep-black background is sprinkled with a multitude of dots (stars) of different sizes and shades of bright white. Across the sea of stars, a web of fuzzy tendrils and ribbons in varying shades of orange and brown rises from the bottom of the image towards the top-right like thin coils of smoke.]
Copernicus Sentinel-1D launch highlights
The Copernicus Sentinel-1D satellite has joined the Sentinel-1 mission in orbit. Launch took place on 4 November 2025 at 22:02 CET (18:02 local time) on board an Ariane 6 launcher from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
The Sentinel-1 mission delivers high-resolution radar images of Earth’s surface, performing in all weathers, day-and-night. This service is used by disaster response teams, environmental agencies, maritime authorities and climate scientists, who depend on frequent updates of critical data.
Sentinel-1D will work in tandem with Sentinel-1C, flying in the same orbit but 180° apart, to optimise global coverage and data delivery. Both satellites have a C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) instrument on board, which captures high-resolution imagery of Earth’s surface. They are also equipped with Automatic Identification System (AIS) instruments to improve detection and tracking of ships. When Sentinel-1D is fully operational, it will enable more frequent AIS observations, including data on vessel identity, location and direction of passage, enabling precise tracking.
Sentinel-1D was launched on Europe’s heavy-lift rocket Ariane 6 on flight designated VA265.
Read full story: Copernicus Sentinel-1D reaches orbit on Ariane 6
Access the related broadcast quality video material: Sentinel-1D launch on Ariane 6 - VA265 / Sentinel-1 mission animations
Copernicus Sentinel-1D launch coverage
The Copernicus Sentinel-1D satellite has joined the Sentinel-1 mission in orbit. Launch took place on 4 November 2025 at 22:03 CET (18:03 local time) on board an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
The Sentinel-1 mission delivers high-resolution radar images of Earth’s surface, performing in all weathers, day-and-night. This service is used by disaster response teams, environmental agencies, maritime authorities and climate scientists, who depend on frequent updates of critical data.
The Sentinel-1D satellite will work in tandem with Sentinel-1C, flying in the same orbit but 180° apart, to optimise global coverage and data delivery. Both satellites have a C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) instrument on board, which captures high-resolution imagery of Earth’s surface. They are also equipped with Automatic Identification System (AIS) instruments to improve detection and tracking of ships. When Sentinel-1D is fully operational, it will enable more frequent AIS observations, including data on vessel identity, location and direction of passage, enabling precise tracking.
Sentinel-1D was launched on Europe’s heavy-lift rocket Ariane 6 on flight designated VA265.
Read full story: Copernicus Sentinel-1D reaches orbit on Ariane 6
Access the related broadcast quality video material: Sentinel-1D launch on Ariane 6 - VA265 / Sentinel-1 mission animations
ESA and AfSA join forces for systems engineering training
From 7 to 10 October 2025, Europe and Africa took another important step toward deepening their cooperation in space. At the ESA Education Training and Learning Facility in ESEC-Galaxia, Belgium, young engineers from across both continents came together for the Space Systems Engineering Training Course, jointly supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the African Space Agency (AfSA).
Ready to launch your career? ESA Student Internships 2026 are now open!
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Week in images: 27-31 October 2025
Week in images: 27-31 October 2025
Discover our week through the lens
Seas of the Sun: The story of Cluster
What began with tragedy ended in triumph. This is the untold story of the European Space Agency’s pioneering 25-year Cluster mission to study how invisible solar storms impact Earth's environment.
Like a ship in a never-ending storm, Earth is bombarded by swarms of particles ejected from the Sun at supersonic speeds. Most of these solar wind particles are deflected by the magnetosphere and sail harmlessly by, but Earth’s shield is not bulletproof.
Since 2000, Cluster sailed the seas of the Sun and revealed the complexities of the Sun–Earth connection. After two-and-a-half incredibly successful decades in space, ESA took the decision to safely deorbit the four Cluster satellites throughout 2024–2026. The mission officially ended on 8 September 2024.
But a space mission is so much more than science. Experience Cluster’s story as told by the people who lived it: scientists and engineers Arnoud Masson, C. Philippe Escoubet, Gill Watson, Gunther Lautenschläger, Lean-Nani Alconcel, Bruno Sousa, Paulo Ferri, Patrick W. Daly, Mandred Warhaut, Silvia Sanvido and Jolene S. Pickett.
The film was produced by Space Rocks for the European Space Agency. It features an original soundtrack by Karlotta Skagfield and additional music by Bruce Dickinson.
Earth from Space: Ghostly lake
Flickering flame: spooky spirits or serious science?
Sentinel-1D pre-launch media briefing
Follow the online briefing on the launch scheduled for 4 November 2025. The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission delivers radar images of Earth’s surface. It is vital for disaster response teams, environmental agencies, maritime authorities, climate scientists.
