ROSEMARY COOGAN, UK ASTRONAUT

A job that’s out of this world…

Rosemary Coogan has become the UK’s third-ever astronaut after she graduated from the European Space Agency (ESA) yesterday.

Ms Coogan earned her space wings after a year of rigorous training at ESA’s centre in Cologne, Germany, where she honed skills in areas including spacewalking, flight engineering and survival beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.

The astrophysicist, who already holds two master’s degrees from Durham University, beat 22,500 other applicants in 2022 in order to be selected for the training.

Born in Northern Ireland, Ms Coogan, 33, will follow in the footsteps of Helen Sharman, who became Britain’s first astronaut in 1989, and Tim Peake, who went to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015.

Did she always have high hopes?

Speaking at her graduation, Ms Coogan said her ambitious goal of becoming an astronaut had been “long-standing”.

“And now to find out that, as an astronaut, you can go [to space] and you can do this fantastic science and bring that back, it’s everything come together as a dream.”

Not an average graduate scheme.

Along with five other graduates, Ms Coogan will be assigned missions to the ISS where she will carry out scientific experiments. Until then, the young astronauts will all take part in operational tasks within ESA.

The UK Space Agency’s head of space exploration, Libby Jackson, called Ms Coogan a champion of “human spaceflight”. She added: “It is absolutely fantastic to see British astronauts a part of the ESA programme.”