Image source, Getty Images

We're wrapping up our coverage now, thanks for joining us.

Here's a round-up of what's been happening in Paris:

• British Paralympic sprinter John McFall has been chosen as the first disabled astronaut by the European Space Agency
• McFall, 41, joined 16 men and women selected for Esa's first new class of astronauts in 13 years
• McFall's leg was amputated after a motorcycle crash when he was 19. He became a professional athlete and represented the UK at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing
• The announcement does not mean McFall is guaranteed to go into orbit, but he will be part of a feasibility programme to see what the requirements would be for that to be possible

• Another British woman, Rosemary Coogan, was selected as a career astronaut
• The other career astronauts include Sophie Adenot, from France, Pablo Álvarez Fernández from Spain, Raphaël Liégeois, from Belgium, and Marco Sieber, from Switzerland

Today's writers were Malu Cursino, George Wright and Chris Giles.

You can get more on today's announcement here.

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor in Paris

We've had to wait 13 years for a new class of European astronauts.

But it’s unlikely we’ll have to hang on until 2035 before we return to Paris for the next announcement. And Esa doesn't want this either.

The likelihood is the agency will make more frequent calls to appoint smaller groups of astronaut candidates.

The space economy is booming. Instead of the two space stations we have in orbit today (the International Space Station and China's Tiangong station), there could be many stations within a decade run by commercial outfits.

In other words, there could be more destinations for more astronauts to visit.

Image source, European Space Agency

Spain is also celebrating Esa's new appointments today, as Pablo Álvarez Fernández joins the cohort as a career astronaut and Sara García Alonso becomes a reservist.

According to local media reports, the pair will be the first Spanish astronauts to join the European Space Agency's taskforce in 30 years - last Spanish astronaut to be part of Esa was Pedro Duque.

Alonso, a 33-year-old biotechnologist told El País, external she has always been interested in investigation and science, and she wanted to contribute towards making the world a better place.

Meanwhile, Fernández tells local media his idol ever since he was a young boy was Duque. He adds: "Of course, [he was] the first Spanish astronaut and he opened the way for everyone".

Image source, European Space Agency

Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent in Paris

The selection of a para-astronaut candidate is a great moment. And the gender mix on the stage in Paris was a big improvement on past recruitment.

But how many faces of colour did you see? The answer was none.

The continent of Europe is a very diverse place, just like America is - but Nasa has plenty of black astronauts. Esa told me as an organisation they will simply have to try harder.

Dr David Parker is the director of human and robotic exploration at the agency. He's the astronauts' boss.

He said: "We did all that we could in the way that we presented the selection process, in our visuals and graphics, to encourage people from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds. If you look back you will see that.

"I have to say that I am inwardly disappointed that we didn't get people from those backgrounds coming forward, at least to the interview stage that I saw. We have to think about that and reflect on why it happened."

Image source, Bill Ingalls HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Italy's first female astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti says it "makes absolute sense" for the European Space Agency to conduct a feasibility study for para-astronauts.

She was recruited by the Esa as part of its last recruitment drive in 2008 alongside five other astronauts - Alexander Gerst, Andreas Mogensen, Luca Parmitano, TimPeake and Thomas Pesquet.

"It used to be that astronauts have to be in perfect health and perfect physical condition, according to the norm.

"How about we try to open that up? Because there's a significant amount of the population out there of people who are, you know, very educated, have great experience, you know, would make great astronauts, but they have a small nonconformity maybe to the classic physical norm.

"And so let's see what we can do about that, which, to me, makes absolute sense.

"They show to the wider public that even though you do not tick all the boxes of what we would consider like a physical norm, that doesn't mean you don't have all the opportunities that everyone else has."

John McFall says he hopes to inspire others and show that "science is for everyone" and "potentially, space is for everyone."

He was speaking after being chosen as the first disabled astronaut by the European Space Agency.

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor in Paris

Europe doesn't have the capability to put its own astronauts in space. It thought about developing a shuttle in the 1980s but quickly abandoned the idea because of cost.

Today there are only two routes available - on a US or a Russian rocket (it's not inconceivable a Chinese opportunity might one day open up).

Esa doesn't pay cash to get its astronauts to the space station. Instead, it barters space hardware. This takes the form of the European Service Module, the propulsion unit that is right now pushing Nasa's Artemis Orion capsule around the Moon.

European industry makes these modules and Esa gifts them to Nasa. In return, Esa gets to put a European astronaut on the space station for six months every year and a half.

When the space station no longer exists, sometime after 2030, this arrangement could see European astronauts going to the Moon, either to stay on a new space station being built there called Gateway, or to go down to a habitat on the lunar surface.

Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent in Paris

The decision to select reserves is an interesting one. In a sense, Esa astronaut Matthias Maurer was the reserve when the Class of 2009 (Tim Peake's group) was announced.

He was one of 10 individuals who made the grade but was just outside the chosen few. This time, Esa is putting on notice quite a lot of reserves. And here's the reason. The advent of US commercial rockets and capsules means anyone can buy a ticket to orbit.

Granted, it's expensive, but if a European government wants to run a national mission, they can. Esa would call on the reserve, they'd quit their job or take a sabbatical, and enter a period of training.

The national government would then put up the money to purchase a flight. Hungary is in the process of doing something very similar already.

It's teamed up with the private US company Axiom, who have a deal with rocket operator SpaceX to fly missions to the space station. The Hungarian citizen will go up in 2024 or 2025.

Meganne Christian from the UK is one of the Esa's new recruits, and she will be a member of the astronaut reserve.

She says she found out this morning about her appointment, and says she will "see what happens".

Christian adds there are opportunities to be explored, but in the meantime she'll continue to work as a researcher for the National Research Council of Italy.

She is both Australian and British, and says the Australian space agency is also interested in her.

Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent in Paris

The "career astronauts" - the ones going straight into the astronaut corps - won't actually join Esa for a few months.

They'll be given until April next year to quit their current roles and tie up loose ends. This may mean selling a house, because they will have to move to Cologne, Germany. That's where Esa trains its astronauts.

And if the new candidates have a young family, they'll no doubt be on the hunt for a local school.

Basic training should be complete within a couple of years (and, yes, they will get a certificate to hang on the wall) before then getting in the queue for a flight opportunity.

And this could be a bit of a wait. Thomas Pesquet, who was selected alongside Tim Peake in 2009, didn't get a mission to the ISS until 2016. His second mission was in 2021.

Astrophysicist Rosemary Coogan, Esa's newly appointed career astronaut, has been speaking to the BBC in Paris.

She says her main motivation to apply for the role was the significance of deepening our understanding of key questions, which space discovery can provide answers for.

Asked about the training that awaits her, Coogan says "today is the beginning" and the training will be incredibly exciting.

She is looking forward to spending time with her colleagues, "and we'll all be in it together", she adds.

Regarding future opportunities for space exploration, Coogan says they never know which mission they'll be assigned to, but "luckily all of the opportunities [from the International Space Station to Nasa's Artemis's European missions] would be fantastic," she adds.

Coogan says she was incredibly grateful and excited about the appointment, and she hopes to be able to contribute.

Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent in Paris

To be clear, John McFall still has a way to go before he can climb aboard a rocket.

Esa was upfront from the beginning that the selected individual will now join a "feasibility project". Esa and Nasa will investigate what it would take to get a para-astronaut into orbit.

Frank de Winne, who heads Esa's astronaut centre in Cologne, Germany, told me: "The first thing that we need to be able to guarantee in a crew is its safety.

"For example, when you have an emergency on the launch pad, you need to be able to evacuate the vehicle in a very short amount of time and also evacuate the launch tower very quickly.

"Can we make sure that the para-astronaut can fulfil those requirements without endangering himself or herself or their crewmates?

"It's possible space vehicles carrying a para-astronaut would need adaptations to assist them. All this needs to be worked out."

Asked if the space station partners were supportive of the idea, de Winne said they were "encouraging but prudent", and correctly so.

John McFall has been telling the BBC about his excitement at becoming Esa's first disabled astronaut.

He says he is very proud and grateful to have been given this opportunity, in "such a brave and bold project".

"It's hopefully gonna be very inspiring," he adds.

Asked about what made him apply for the position, McFall says: "When Esa announced that they were looking for candidates with a physical disability to run this astronaut feasibility project, I looked at the person specification and it just kind of jumped out to me, I felt so inspired by it. I felt compelled to apply."

He says he applied because he had the mix of skills and scientific background to help Esa answer the "very aspirational question: can we get someone with a physical disability into space, to work in space safely?".

McFall says becoming an astronaut had not been on his radar previously, because in a similar way to the military, as an amputee he says he would not pass the medical selection process required for being an astronaut.

But that's all the more reason why this is such a great opportunity to inspire people, he adds.

Image source, Getty Images

John McFall has become the first disabled astronaut chosen by the European Space Agency.

But before that, he was a Paralympic sprinter winning bronze in the 100m at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.

His other achievements include gold in the 200m at the 2007 World Athletics Championships for the Disabled in the Netherlands, and the 2007 Visa Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Meet the 2022 class of European Space Agency astronauts.

UK science minister George Freeman, who was in Paris for today’s announcement, says it's a brilliant day for “British science and British values”.

He’s been reflecting on the announcement of British astronomer Rosemary Coogan becoming an Esa astronaut, John McFall becoming its first para-astronaut, and Meganne Christian being picked as a reserve astronaut.

He says Tim Peake “inspired a whole generation” adding that today “we’ve seen three British astronauts in this Esa cohort”.

He says Rosemary will be “flying the flag for women in space”, describing her achievement as “a really inspiring story”.

He says John is the “world’s first para-astronaut” and he says he’s proud the UK “will be the first country to put a para-astronaut in space and show that space is indeed the new frontier.

"It’s where we destroy the barriers that are holding back this planet and mankind,” he adds.

Image source, Esa

Sophie Adenot, from France, studied engineering and graduated from ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse, France, specialising in spacecraft and aircraft flight dynamics. She also completed a Master of Science in human factors engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, USA. In 2005 she joined the French Air Force becoming a helicopter pilot. In 2018, she bacame a helicopter test pilot, working on rescue missions across Europe, with over 3,000 flight hours.

Pablo Álvarez Fernández, from Spain, is an aeronautical engineering graduate from the University of León in Spain. He has a masters in aerospace engineering from the Warsaw University of Technology. Fernández worked as a structural engineer for aircraft companies in Spain, and contributed to the development and testing of the ExoMars rover bioseals - an endeavour to prevent biological contamination.

Raphaël Liégeois, from Belgium, studied biomedical engineering at the University of Liège and has worked as a research and teaching fellow at the University of Geneva and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland teaching neuroengineering and statistics courses.

Marco Sieber, from Switzerland, joined paratrooper training in the Swiss Army in 2009, where he achieved the military rank of sergeant. He has been working as a helicopter rescue emergency medical doctor since 2020.

Image source, European Space Agency

British astrophysicist Rosemary Coogan is one of Esa's class of 2022 new career astronauts.

She has two masters degrees from the University of Durham in the UK.

Her masters level research focused on gamma-ray emission from black holes, before she went on to pursue a PhD in Astronomy at the University of Sussex.

As well as English, Coogan speaks French and German.

She started a postdoctoral research fellowship in astrophysics in Munich, Germany and then went on to join the French space agency (CNES) in Paris as a research fellow in space science.

Image source, Esa

In a world first, a disabled British man has been selected for astronaut training by the European Space Agency.

John McFall will join the space training corps to work with designers and engineers to see if he can be the first disabled person to go into space.

John is a British Paralympic sprinter from Surrey who lost his leg in a motorbike accident when he was 19-years-old.

The European Space Agency announced the Astronaut Training Class of 2022 in a news conference in Paris today.

John will join the training corps as a para-astronaut as part of a feasibility study to see what needs to be adapted and redesigned.

But it may be several years before he is able to go into space.. if at all.

British astronaut Tim Peake trained with Esa in 2009 before finally going into space in 2016.

We're now hearing from the new disabled astronaut, dubbed by Esa as its "para-astronaut". Paralympian John McFall, who is a sprinter from the UK, will be taking on the new role.

He hopes to inspire others and show that potentially "space is for everyone".