European Astronaut Centre

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The European Astronaut Centre (EAC) (French: Centre des astronautes européens; CAE), is a centre of the European Space Agency and home of the European Astronaut Corps. It is located in Cologne, Germany, and is subdivided into four separate arms, these being Training, Medicine, Education and PR, and Astronaut Management. It provides training facilities to the European astronauts (including a neutral buoyancy pool), particularly regarding ESA hardware for the ISS such as Columbus and the ATV. The overall European Astronaut Centre organisation is also in charge of the organisation of the training of European astronauts in the centers of other partners, such as the United States (Johnson Space Center), Russia (Star City), Canada (Saint-Hubert) or Japan (Tsukuba).

The Medical Operations arm (the Crew Medical Support Office) concentrates on providing health related support to the European astronauts and their families. Astronaut management supports and directs the careers and mission placements of the astronauts, and Education and PR are involved in activities related to education and outreach and the appropriate representation of the European astronauts and their space activities to the public.