Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, Astronaut / International Space Station Commander and Josef ASCHBACHER, ESA Director General make a statement on the cooperation of the EU and European Space Agency and the gender equality in the context of Space program. Samantha CRISTOFORETTI is in the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, on the occassion of the Internatinal Women's Day celebration.

statement

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

International Women's Day (T)

European space industry (T)

EU space programme 2021-2027 (T)

CRISTOFORETTI, Samantha

Gender balance / EU - ESA Cooperation: Statement by Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ISS Commander and Josef ASCHBACHER, ESA Director General

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, European Space Agency astronaut, I think that we've been quite successful to reach women and to make this space industry attractive to them. We had an astronaut selection that started a couple of years ago and about 24, almost a quarter of the applications were from women. Considering that we recruit from careers in science, technology and aviation fiels that typically in which women are typically a minority. I think we were pretty successful in reaching out to potential female candidates and convince them that the space industry is an attractive place for them to work.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, European Space Agency astronaut, It's important to continue to develop and expand our capabilities in space to tackle challenges that go from, you know, the climate change to digital transformation to economic and industrial competitiveness. ESA and the European Union each bring their specific competencies and their specific strengths to the table. And historically, all the programs that we've run together, Copernicus, Galileo had been extremely successful in bringing services and prosperity to Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, European Space Agency astronaut, The EU and ESA can continue to expand this cooperation to further develop the capabilities of the European space so that we can be on par with the leaders in space in the world, in all domains, in some domains, but are already world class. But certainly in things like access to space, human exploration, we still have some catch up to do. And and I think it's really important to have that kind of ambition.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josef ASCHBACHER, ESA Director General , Space has gone through a new revolution because there is a new drive which is happening in space. So of course, all of, you know, SpaceX and what happens in it in the United States, but also in Europe, the investment and the public side, but also the private side are increasing significantly. And my job as director general of the European Space Agency is to make sure that Europe is not missing out on these opportunities.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josef ASCHBACHER, ESA Director General, In all countries, they are investing in space because space has a lot to offer space as opportunities geopolitically, economically, societally, And this is what we want to do. This is what we want to enable for Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josef ASCHBACHER, ESA Director General, We have now selected the next class of astronauts. 24% were female. However, in the final selection, we selected 17 astronauts. Half of them are women, meaning that I'm really setting an example, that women are just as good as men and they are qualified to become astronauts or any take any other job in the European Space Agency.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josef ASCHBACHER, ESA Director General, I have a very strong agenda in ESA to really increase the gender balance. We have, of course, more men are studying physics, mathematics, engineering, but we make a real effort to find those talented women out there in Europe to really hire them because they are doing a fantastic job and having them in the team is just wonderful.