Belgian astronaut Raphael Leguis will be allowed to go into space for six months in 2026. His stay on the International Space Station could be a first step towards a trip to the moon. “From 2028, Europeans will travel to the moon, and one day our Belgians will.”
Namor Rafael Liegeois (36) has a PhD in neuroscience and is a hot air balloon pilot. He received his professional astronaut diploma in April 2024. A month later, on May 23, it was announced that he could prepare for his first space flight in 2026. He will spend six months on the International Space Station orbiting the Earth.
Liégois is the third Belgian to remain outside our atmosphere. He was preceded by the Flemish Dirk Freimuth (1992) and Frank De Winne (2002 and 2009).
At a press conference, Liegua declared that “a childhood dream has come true”: “I am particularly looking forward to the space flight itself and I hope to also do a space walk.” That has not been decided yet. Spacewalking is dangerous and should only be done when absolutely necessary. But we’ve been doing this very intensely for four months, here at the pool in Houston.
Liégois now resides in Houston, Texas at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. There he will spend the next two years intensively preparing for his mission with Frenchwoman Sophie Adino, who will go to the International Space Station immediately before him.
But how is a small country like Belgium allowed to send someone into space for the third time? And can we dream of a Belgian on the moon?
I hope I can do a space walk, and we are training extensively for that. But it is dangerous and should only be done when absolutely necessary.
Money deals and back rooms
“The Belgian federal government contributes about $300 million a year to the ESA budget,” says astrobiologist Peter Mestdag, affiliated with the European Space Education Resource Office (Esero). As a small country, this puts us in fifth place in the rankings of ESA’s 22 members.
According to Mostdag, choosing to invest heavily in space travel is a wise expenditure, because there is a guarantee of return: the European Space Agency is obligated to spend at least $300 million on contracts in Belgium. For example, the Proba satellites (which take images of the Earth and the Sun, ed.) are largely manufactured by companies in Kroepke, Oudenaarde and Antwerp. Moreover, these satellites are permanently monitored at the European Space Agency’s center in the Ardennes. The employees there are also paid this way. In this way, this money flows back into the Belgian economy.
Investing heavily in space travel doesn’t guarantee a place on the International Space Station, but it helps. Besides Belgium, the largest donors to ESA are Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. In the past 20 years, the European Space Agency has organized 24 space missions. All the astronauts who participated came from the five most invested countries, with the exception of the Dane, the Swede and the Dutchman.
The International Space Station is operated by NASA, the European Space Agency, the Canadian space agencies, Japan, and Russia. They jointly and unanimously determine which astronauts will inhabit the space station. “As an outsider, you don’t know anything about these meetings,” Mostdagh says. “This is politics behind closed doors.”
Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne is participating in those negotiations. He is the director of all European astronauts at ESA, so he is in a key position. Mostdagh: “His presence at that table is not the reason why Liégois is now allowed to go to the International Space Station. In his role as director, de Winne is neutral. Of course, he indirectly influences Liégois’s preference through the long-term vision of putting the European on the moon.
Heavy test
But money and backroom politics won’t push unsuitable candidates into the space. The pre-selection procedures are too strict for that. Leigua, along with four others, was selected from more than 22,500 candidates to begin astronaut training. Astrophysicist Katrin Kohlenberg (University of Leuven, VUB, University of Antwerp) can comment on how difficult this choice is. It reached the last 1361.
“For about twelve hours in Hamburg, we underwent so-called psychometric tests on spatial insight, memory, mathematics, physics, languages, personality traits – with short breaks in between. And at the end of the long day, the flight simulator… you have to get Get a good score on all of those tests: If you get a lower score on one test, you’ll be out. I left with a great experience. Meeting these other candidates was inspiring.
After knowledge tests, we will check whether you can work in a group and also have high physical fitness. Kohlenberg: The European Space Agency is monitoring whether you can solve a difficult situation in a group. Team spirit is a bonus in an inhospitable space. Another Belgian woman, Lisbeth Arnots, made it to the round of 25, but only our compatriot Liegeoa was eventually allowed to start training. Which might one day take him to the moon…
The choice is very difficult. Twelve hours of testing spatial insight, memory, mathematics, physics, languages, personality traits… And at the end of the long day: a flight simulator.
Deep space portal
Twelve Americans walked on the moon between July 1969 and December 1972, and no human has set foot on it since. NASA and the European Space Agency have been investing in return missions to the Moon for twenty years. As part of the Artemis program, NASA and the European Space Agency want to build a permanent base on the Moon. In the long term, habitation on the Moon will also facilitate our future mission to Mars.
“Starting around 2028, we expect European astronauts to travel to the Moon using Artemis-4,” Mostdagh says. From then on, there would in principle be at least one place for a European on every Artemis voyage. This is what we work for, but you need people with experience. The fact that Liégois was allowed to go to the International Space Station so soon after graduation was to gain that necessary experience.
“The fact that Liégois can go to the International Space Station in 2026 increases his chances of going to the Moon later. Experience on the International Space Station is an important asset to be selected for a landing on the Moon. One day it will be up to our Belgian player.
A new space station, Deep Space Gateway, will be built in orbit around the moon. This will be largely European-made. Furthermore, Orion, the travel device between Earth and that new space station, is also half American and half European. Mostdagh: “Although Europe’s contribution in euros is less than that of the Americans, we still have a guarantee that the Europeans – and perhaps also the Legoans – will go to the moon.”
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