In addition to the 299 Mission Space Lab teams who achieved flight status this year, 16,869 Mission Zero programs were deployed, by young people from 26 countries.
Teams were very creative, making great use of the Astro Pi's LED matrix this year.
This year's European Astro Pi Challenge is the first to use two brand new Astro Pi computers that arrived on the ISS in December 2021.
They are packed with new features, widening the opportunities for new experiments.
ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer oversaw the deployment of both the Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab programs, but first he had a very special task - unpacking and assembling the Astro Pis in microgravity.
In total, 28,126 young people took part across both Astro Pi 2021/22 challenges but our new Astro Pi computers were more than up to the challenge! The first two Astro Pis, Ed and Izzy, were originally launched in 2015 with Tim Peake's Principia Mission and have been used to run programs from more than 54,000 young people.
Mission Zero 2021/22 participants had the opportunity to suggest the names of the two new Astro Pi computers, honouring inspirational European scientists.
There were nearly 7,000 suggestions! ESA Astronaut Matthias Maurer has recorded a special message for us revealing that the two new Astro Pi computers will be named after... Nikola Tesla and Marie Curie.
Marie Curie and Nikola Tesla's work continues to impact all of our lives today and we are delighted that their names have been chosen for the new Astro Pi computers.
The Astro Pi equipped with a Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera that is sensitive to Near Infrared light will be named Nikola Tesla, and the Astro Pi with the visible light HQC will be Marie Curie.