Editing European Space Agency (section)

===Formation and development===
[[File:Ulf D. Merbold.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Ulf Merbold]] became the first ESA astronaut to fly into space.]]
At the time the ESA was formed, its main goals did not encompass human space flight; rather it considered itself to be primarily a scientific research organisation for uncrewed space exploration in contrast to its American and Soviet counterparts. It is therefore not surprising that the first non-Soviet European in space was not an ESA astronaut on a European space craft; it was [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]] [[Vladimír Remek]] who in 1978 became the first non-Soviet or American in space (the first man in space being [[Yuri Gagarin]] of the Soviet Union) – on a [[Soviet space programme|Soviet]] [[Soyuz spacecraft]], followed by the [[Polish people|Pole]] [[Mirosław Hermaszewski]] and East German [[Sigmund Jähn]] in the same year. This Soviet co-operation programme, known as [[Intercosmos]], primarily involved the participation of [[Eastern bloc]] countries. In 1982, however, [[Jean-Loup Chrétien]] became the first [[Western Bloc|non-Communist Bloc]] astronaut on a flight to the Soviet [[Salyut 7]] space station.

Because Chrétien did not officially fly into space as an ESA astronaut, but rather as a member of the French [[CNES]] astronaut corps, the German [[Ulf Merbold]] is considered the first ESA astronaut to fly into space. He participated in the [[STS-9]] [[Space Shuttle]] mission that included the first use of the European-built [[Spacelab]] in 1983. STS-9 marked the beginning of an extensive ESA/NASA joint partnership that included dozens of space flights of ESA astronauts in the following years. Some of these missions with Spacelab were fully funded and organisationally and scientifically controlled by the ESA (such as two missions by Germany and one by Japan) with European astronauts as full crew members rather than guests on board. Beside paying for Spacelab flights and seats on the shuttles, the ESA continued its human space flight co-operation with the [[Soviet Union]] and later Russia, including numerous visits to [[Mir]].

During the latter half of the 1980s, European human space flights changed from being the exception to routine and therefore, in 1990, the [[European Astronaut Centre]] in [[Cologne]], Germany was established. It selects and trains prospective astronauts and is responsible for the co-ordination with international partners, especially with regard to the [[International Space Station]]. As of 2006, the ESA astronaut corps officially included twelve members, including nationals from most large European countries except the United Kingdom.

In 2008, the ESA started to recruit new astronauts so that final selection would be due in spring 2009. Almost 10,000 people registered as astronaut candidates before registration ended in June 2008. 8,413 fulfilled the initial application criteria. Of the applicants, 918 were chosen to take part in the first stage of psychological testing, which narrowed down the field to 192. After two-stage psychological tests and medical evaluation in early 2009, as well as formal interviews, six new members of the [[European Astronaut Corps]] were selected – five men and one woman.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Closing_in_on_new_astronauts |title=Closing in on new astronauts |date=24 September 2008 |access-date=6 September 2014 |publisher=European Space Agency |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924040507/http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Closing_in_on_new_astronauts |url-status=live }}</ref>