20.01.2022
The European Space Agency has narrowed the candidate list for its next generation of astronauts, including dozens who have a physical disability
Astronaut Luca Parmitano of Italy, seen on screen, flashes a thumbs up, as he controls the Space Rover, rear, which successfully picked up a rock during a training exercise of the European Space Agency, ESA, in Katwijk, near The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Nov. 25, 2019. The agency announced last year that it had received a record number of 22,589 applicants from people hoping to become the continent’s next generation of space travelers. ESA said Tuesday it has reduced these to fewer than 1,400 — including 29 of whom have a physical disability — and hoped to cut the shortlist down to several tens of candidates by the end of the year for the four to six positions on its astronaut training program.( AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
BERLIN -- The European Space Agency has narrowed the candidate list for its next generation of astronauts, including dozens who have a physical disability.
The agency announced last year that it had received a record number of 22,589 applications from people hoping to become the continent’s next generation of space travelers.
ESA said Tuesday it has reduced these to fewer than 1,400 — 29 of whom have a physical disability — and hopea to cut the shortlist down to several tens of candidates by the end of the year for the four to six positions on its astronaut training program.
The agency's director-general, Josef Aschbacher, said the selection process would be accompanied by a feasibility study to determine the implications of choosing candidates with disabilities “but, yes, we are committed at ESA to open space to everyone.”
ESA has for decades relied on its Russian and American counterparts to launch astronauts into space. Currently the agency has several places booked on American commercial launches. But Aschbacher said Europe may finally get its own crewed spacecraft if ESA member states approve the idea at a meeting later this year.
“We are not only talking of launches, we are talking of human exploration,” he said, adding that future missions would seek to send astronauts to the moon “and beyond.”
In the meantime, the agency will continue to develop its robotic capability, including a spacecraft capable of carrying large loads to the Moon that would support joint missions with partners such as NASA.
ESA is also in the early stages of working on a probe that would fly to an ice moon, such as Saturn's Enceladus, to recover a sample and bring it back to Earth.
“It could be that there’s very simple, primitive life in the water underneath the ice cover,” said Aschbacher.
One challenge is that with current technology, the round-trip could take decades to complete.
Time is also a factor in the replacement of one of ESA's science satellites, Sentinel 1-B, which stopped functioning properly in late December.
Simonetta Cheli, the agency's director of Earth observation, said the root cause of the malfunction was still being investigated and it was too soon to say whether the successor model, Sentinel 1-C, will need to be modified to avoid suffering a similar fate.
Any delay in replacing Sentinel 1-B could cause problems for scientists who rely on the satellite's data for their research, including into climate change.
“Of course, we would need to try and look for options to launch the satellite as soon as possible if 1-B terminates its own lifetime,” said Cheli.
Astronaut selection: stage one complete
In brief
The next stage of ESA’s astronaut selection is underway, with around 1391 applicants invited to a full day of testing at a facility in Europe.
In-depth
These candidates were selected from over 23 000 Europeans who put themselves forward for the astronaut and astronaut (with a physical disability) positions when ESA issued the call in March 2021. Due to a high volume and caliber of applications, it has taken some time to review and respond to all applicants and ESA would once again like to express its gratitude to all those who applied.
Head of Space Medicine at ESA Guillaume Weerts says: “We really want to thank everyone who applied to this selection process, both those continuing and those who will leave us at this stage. Thank you for your patience and for all the work you put into your applications. We were very impressed by the quality of applicants.”
ESA HR Business Partner Antonella Costa agrees. “It is a very competitive process – even just meeting the initial criteria to apply is something to be proud of,” she says.
“Though not everybody can become an astronaut, there are many other ways in which you can support Europe in space. We strongly encourage people to visit our careers website and see how else they could apply their skills and follow their passion with ESA.”
The first round of testing for the 1391 candidates who have made it through focuses on psychological performance and includes cognitive, technical, motor coordination and personality tests. For successful candidates, this will be followed by a set of psychological interviews and group tests before medical testing.
Candidates who successfully pass each of the selection stages will be invited to recruitment interviews. ESA’s new class of astronauts and reserve astronauts is expected to be announced in autumn 2022.
Quelle: ESA