For two days, the Cercle Cité in Luxembourg City was transformed into a hub for all things space, as the Asteroid Day Festival brought together experts and enthusiasts to explore asteroids, space research, and planetary protection.

On Saturday, visitors of all ages took part in interactive workshops and attended lectures covering a range of space-related subjects. One of the festival's highlights was the presence of three astronauts, including American Mike Foreman, who not only signed autographs but also shared first-hand accounts from their missions. Foreman, a veteran of two NASA Space Shuttle flights, has logged more than 630 hours in orbit.

“I still remember my very first spacewalk very clearly. Even though I had trained for hundreds of hours in my suit and knew exactly what I had to do, I was not 100% sure how I would feel outside the spacecraft. Our training takes place in a large pool underwater. But what would it be like to float out there and look down at the Earth? Would I feel as though I was falling? Yet, as soon as I was outside, I immediately felt comfortable. The training paid off. In less than a minute, I was completely relaxed and thought: ‘Ah, this is great! I am used to this, I know exactly what I am doing.’”

Mike Foreman

Mike Foreman will delve deeper into his space missions during Tuesday’s edition of RTL's Magazin. The programme will also feature impressions from festival visitors and provide an inside look at the Luxembourg Space Agency and its ambitions for the future.