The objectives of the Asclepios missions are to act as an enabler for scientific entities, to train students through their work, and to promote space sciences.

Recruitment efforts for the team started in September 2019 in preparation for the Asclepios I mission while applications to join the analogue astronaut crew were received from students worldwide.

[2] The first mission of the program, Asclepios I, was organized in July 2021 in the Bernese Alps at the Grimsel Test Site after having been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The astronauts were supported at all times by a Mission Control Center composed only of students trained to follow procedures inspired by those of the European Space Agency.Asclepios I crewmembers were as follows: Asclepios II was a 14-day lunar analogue mission conducted in Sasso San Gottardo,[6] a Swiss world war era fortress near Gotthard Pass, Switzerland.

Recruitment for Asclepios II began in June 2020, but the final phase of the selection, involving an in-person interview weekend, was postponed until September 2021 due to COVID.

Notable research groups involved in the mission were EPFL, the Société Française de Radiologie, MEDES/Spaceship-CNES, the Human Adaptation Institute, TU Berlin, NASA Ames, and the University of Nottingham.