00:01Nothing, not even gravity, can hold Sara Garcia Alonso down.
00:06She and her fellow astronauts are learning how to float.
00:11I always thought it was something for other people.
00:13It seemed so far-fetched, so unattainable to me
00:16that I never pictured it as a realistic option for a career.
00:21Sara is one of 17 participants
00:23in the European Space Agency's astronaut training program,
00:27selected from over 22,000 scientists who'd applied.
00:31And now she could become the first Spanish woman in space.
00:37Like any child who's seen movies about space,
00:40I thought, wow, I'd love to be an astronaut.
00:43Look at what they can do, how adventurous and brave they are.
00:46But it's very difficult to dream about something you don't know anything about
00:50if there's been nobody before you doing something like that.
00:54How can you, at the age of 10, think you could be the first person to do it?
01:03Sara has two parallel lives.
01:06One in Spain, where she works as a molecular biologist.
01:10The other in Germany, where she's not only learning how to fly,
01:15but also how to survive in hostile conditions.
01:22I thought the cold-weather survival training was going to be very challenging for me.
01:27But it's been one of the best experiences I've ever had.
01:31We spent a whole week there, completely isolated, surrounded by snow-capped mountains.
01:36And I was proud to make it, to see that with the right techniques you can even feel comfortable.
01:42Learning how to build a fire in the middle of a forest while it's snowing,
01:45it was a great challenge, and one that I still have great memories of.
01:50When the outdoor challenges are over,
01:52it's time to get back to the European Astronaut Center in the German city of Cologne.
01:57Though activities at the EAC are not as extreme, the training regimen is stringent.
02:06Almost every day we have a gym session, either in a group or individually.
02:11Everyone goes and trains there.
02:13Then, at the neutral buoyancy facility, we do scuba diving training
02:17to simulate conditions in a microgravity environment.
02:21So, basically, each day is completely different from the next.
02:24But it's always really interesting.
02:29The training also includes theory lessons, experiments in different environments,
02:34familiarizing yourself with the equipment,
02:36and learning how to explain to others what you're doing.
02:40This whole environment we're in is called the training hall.
02:44There's a series of modules that are very similar to the modules
02:47that make up the International Space Station.
02:49In fact, it's on a one-to-one scale.
02:52On one side are the modules that we'll be seeing later.
02:56The Columbus module over here is the laboratory,
02:59which is the European Space Agency's contribution to the International Space Station.
03:03It's a laboratory with a set of racks for conducting scientific experiments.
03:13They all just look like boxes, but some of them store centrifuges, incubators for microorganisms,
03:19or plants that need to be kept at a certain temperature and under specific oxygen and CO2 conditions.
03:26All of this is achieved inside the racks that are distributed throughout these areas.
03:32Once the training is concluded, the astronauts will have to face the challenges of the career path they've chosen.
03:39For Sara, some of that is already hitting home.
03:42When your name is announced along with your 16 other colleagues in front of all these European ministers
03:48and you're on the world stage, you lose your anonymity.
03:52From then on, people are watching you.
03:54You're an ambassador for the European Space Agency and your country,
03:57for science, technology, and exploration.
04:00So, a lot of expectations to meet.
04:05Sara Garcia Alonso will wrap up her training at the end of May, 2026.
04:10After that, all she has to do is wait for Issa's call.
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