Want to go into orbit?
The European Space Agency (ESA) is about to launch its fourth astronaut recruitment campaign, aiming at "
generational change
", also with more space for women, and perhaps people with disabilities.
Places are scarce: only between four and six candidates will be selected after a long selection process, which will open on March 31 with the reception of applicants, and will end in October 2022.
Read also: An Austrian at the head of the European Space Agency
During the previous wave of recruitments in 2008, out of more than 8,000 aspirants, less than ten had crossed the finish line, including Thomas Pesquet, youngest of the European Astronaut Corps.
“
Volunteers to become our new colleagues?
Get started !!
"Tweeted the 43-year-old French astronaut, in full preparations for his second mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS),"
Alpha
", scheduled for next spring.
From his training location, not communicated by ESA, Thomas Pesquet will deliver some advice to his future colleagues, in a video message broadcast on Tuesday at a press conference which will mark the official launch of the campaign.
This recruitment wave is a first in 11 years for ESA and its 22 Member States, as it enters a “
new era of space exploration
”.
"
Parastronauts
"
Because the next generation of astronauts, who will be alongside the current one, is destined to fly to the ISS, but also to the Moon, with in particular the American program Artémis which aims, in the next decade, a return of astronauts. on lunar soil and the installation of a permanent base.
ESA has already secured three seats for Europeans aboard the future Gateway lunar orbital station, as a contributor to the program.
With this new horizon in sight, the European agency wants to "
initiate a real generational change
".
It “
strongly encourages women to apply
”, in order to “
strengthen gender diversity in its ranks
”.
In the previous campaign, only 16% of women had applied.
But diversity will also "
perhaps
" extend to physical disabilities, announces David Parker, director of human and robotic exploration at ESA, in a statement.
"
Along with the recruitment of astronauts, I am launching the parastronauts feasibility project - an innovation for which the time has come
", explains this manager.
Multiple selection criteria
Six tests await the candidates, aged preferably from 27 to 37 years old and coming from the 22 member countries of the space agency, created in 1975. The content of the tests will be detailed on Tuesday, but we already know that the level of requirement to work in orbit (scientific, technical, physical, psychological ...) is high.
Not to mention the languages to know: Thomas Pesquet speaks English, Russian, Spanish, German and even a little Chinese.
The selection criteria are multiple, and more political aspects - not all Member States contributing to the ESA budget to the same extent - should also play into the final decision.
The European Astronaut Corps currently has seven members: the Germans Alexander Gerst and Matthias Maurer, the Italians Luca Parmitano and Samantha Cristoforetti, the French Thomas Pesquet, the Briton Timothy Peake and the Danish Andreas Mogensen.
A novelty of the future promotion: the creation of a "
reserve corps
", in addition to the main body of astronauts.
