( CNN ) -- Two Italians , a Dane , a German , a Frenchman and a Brit walk into a space station ... or will , in 2013 , if all goes according to European Space Agency plans . Europe 's six new astronauts hope to join their American counterparts on the Internation Space Station . The six new astronauts named Wednesday were chosen from more than 8,400 candidates , and are the first new ESA astronauts since 1992 , the space agency said in a statement . They include two military test pilots , one fighter pilot and one commercial pilot , plus an engineer and a physicist . `` This is a very important day for human spaceflight in Europe , '' said Simonetta Di Pippo , Director of Human Spaceflight at ESA . `` These young men and women are the next generation of European space explorers . They have a fantastic career ahead , which will put them right on top of one of the ultimate challenges of our time : going back to the Moon and beyond as part of the global exploration effort . '' Humans have not walked on the moon since 1972 , just over three years after the first manned mission to Earth 's nearest neighbor . The six will begin space training in Germany , with an eye to being ready for future missions to the International Space Station and beyond in four years . They are : Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy , a fighter pilot with degrees in engineering and aeronautical sciences ; Alexander Gerst , a German researcher with degrees in physics and earth science ; Andreas Mogensen , a Danish engineer with the private space firm HE Space Operations ; Luca Parmitano of Italy , an Air Force pilot with a degree in aeronautical sciences ; Timothy Peake , an English test pilot with the British military ; and Frenchman Thomas Pesquet , an Air France pilot who previously worked as an engineer at the French space agency .
2 Italians , a Dane , a German , a Frenchman and Briton make astronaut list . Six new astronauts named Wednesday chosen from 8,400 candidates . Comment: