Space: UK's new astronaut Rosemary Coogan completes training

Rosemary Coogan has become an official astronaut after completing her training with the European Space Agency (ESA).

The astronomer from Belfast, Northern Ireland, has become the UK's third ever astronaut, following in the footsteps of Helen Sharman and Tim Peake.

She graduated from the special training programme alongside four other other European Space Agency astronauts, who are being prepared for future missions.

They are Sophie Adenot from France, Pablo Alvarez Fernandez from Spain, Raphael Liegeois a Belgian-Luxembourgish engineer and, Marco Sieber from Switzerland. Australian astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg also joins them.

"Graduating from astronaut basic training is an incredibly moving moment for me.

"From dreaming about space to now being one step closer to reaching it, I'm filled with gratitude and determination to make the most of this extraordinary opportunity." said Rosemary.

Speaking about her graduation Dr Paul Bate - Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency - said: "Our congratulations across the UK space sector go to Rosemary on her graduation."

"Astronaut training is a rigorous process and Rosemary and her fellow astronauts have developed new skills and overcome intense challenges to graduate today. This is an exciting step on her journey and we are very proud of what she has achieved."

The five ESA astronauts were selected from more than 22,500 applicants and carried out their training at the agency's astronaut centre in Cologne, Germany.

Ex-British Paralympian John McFall was also chosen to take part in a special programme to test the feasibility of people with a disability working in space.

Rosemary is an astrophysicist, and was selected to join the European Space Agency's (ESA) training programme last year.

She has two master's degrees from Durham University and an astronomy doctorate from Sussex.

She has now become the UK's third ever astronaut, after completing her basic training with the ESA.

Rosemary welcomed Shaun the Sheep back to the UK after his Moon mission.

She follows in the footsteps of Helen Sharman, who became the first Briton in space in 1989, and Tim Peake, who spent six months on the International Space Station between December 2015 and June 2016.

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Tim famously ran the 2016 London Marathon on a treadmill on the ISS, and became the first British astronaut to carry out a spacewalk.

When Rosemary found out that she has been selected she said: "It was a real privilege to get the call - I was incredibly excited."

The new astronauts have been trained to International Space Station standards, so they can go on missions there and back.

As part of their training they headed to NASA's 12-meter-deep Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) in Texas in the US, to complete scuba diving practise to prepare for spacewalks.

She also took part in winter survival training in the Spanish Pyrenees, as well as centrifuge rides - to recreate the effects of high g-forces during rocket launches and zero-gravity flights.

Rosemary and the other astronauts were also trained in how to carry out scientific experiments aboard the International Space Station, given medical training and high-level science lessons in astronomy, astrophysics, radiation physics and meteorology.

Once they are selected for a mission, they will have to complete further more specific training to make sure they are fully prepared.