Dr. Reinhold Ewald (born December 18, 1956) is a German physicist and ESA astronaut.

Born in Mönchengladbach, Germany, he received diploma in experimental physics from the University of Cologne in 1983 and the Ph.D. in 1986, with a minor degree in human physiology.

In 1990, he was selected to the German astronaut team, training for the Euromir '92 mission. He was the backup of Klaus-Dietrich Flade for the Soyuz TM-14 mission. In 1995 he began training for the second German Mir mission. In February 1997 he flew to the space station Mir with Soyuz TM-25, spending 18 days in space. He performed experiments in biomedical and material sciences, and carried out operational tests in preparation for the International Space Station.

In February 1999, he joined the European Astronaut Corps at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany.

As of 2007, Ewald is heading the Flight Operations Division within ESA’s ISS Operations department at the Columbus Control Centre near Munich. In this role, he is directing a team of ESA Mission Directors managing the Columbus laboratory delivery flight in February 2008 and the Columbus science activities thereafter.

Samantha Cristoforetti (born April 26, 1977 in Milan, Italy) is an engineer, the third woman astronaut in the European Space Agency, and the first Italian woman astronaut.

Cristoforetti was born in Milan in 1977. She studied in Bolzano and Trento and graduated from the Technical University of Munich with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. She studied at the École nationale supérieure de l'aéronautique et de l'espace in Toulouse, France, and at the Mendeleev Russian University of Chemistry and Technology in Moscow, Russia.

She also graduated in Aeronautics Sciences at the Italian Air Force Academy in Pozzuoli, becoming one of the first women to be a lieutenant in the Italian Air Force.

She speaks Italian, German, English, French and Russian^{[citation needed]}.

Alexander Gerst (born May 3, 1976 in Künzelsau, Baden-Württemberg) is a European Space Agency astronaut having been selected in 2009 to undergo training. He studied at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, where he received a university degree in physics. He also studied Earth Science at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, where he was awarded a Master of Science. He has been working as a researcher since 2005 and received his Doctorate about volcanic eruption in 2010. In his spare time, he enjoys mountaineering, diving, climbing and skydiving.

He was selected as astronaut in 2009 by the European Space Agency.