Raphaël Liégeois from Namur is Belgium’s new astronaut. The European Space Agency designated him today. He stands a good chance of becoming the third Belgian in space after Dirk Frimout and Frank De Winne.
Liégeois is a neuroscientist and balloonist. He’s been selected from 22,000 candidates from 25 European nations.
The Namurois studied extensively: the science of engineering and fundamental physics in Paris, biomedical sciences and medicine in Liège. He holds a doctorate in medical imaging of the brain.
As a neuroscientist he carried out research at Singapore University and Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne. In 2019 he served as guest lecturer at Stanford University in the USA. For the past year and a half he’s been lecturing at Geneva University, where he also carries out research as well as experiments to map out the workings of the brain.
In his free time he plays the piano, the guitar and the organ and enjoys circus acts. He’s a good runner and experienced balloonist. In 2017, together with his girlfriend he cycled all the way from Singapore to his native Namur. It is not expected to be his longest journey.