👨‍🚀 23,000 people want to become astronauts for ESA

👨‍🚀 23,000 people want to become astronauts for ESA

The application period for ESA's astronaut program has now ended and the space agency has received a record number of applications. This year ESA also accepted applications from people with a physical disability.

Elina Holmgren Tyskling
Elina Holmgren Tyskling

Share this story!

This year, ESA, The European Space Agency, has been looking for new astronauts, and the response has been big. Approximately 23,000 people have applied for the program, which represents more than a doubling compared the figure during the previous recruitment in 2008.

The number of women who applied has also increased by more than 400 percent. In this year's recruitment, ESA has made a historic decision to also accept applications from people with physical disabilities with the aim of making spacecraft more accessible to all. 250 applications were received from this group. On ESA's website you can read:

"ESA is ready to invest in defining the necessary adaptations of space hardware in an effort to enable these otherwise excellently qualified professionals to serve as professional crew members on a safe and useful space mission."

An admission process in several steps

The application period started on March 31 and ended on June 18. ESA has decided that up to 1,050 people can go on to the next step, consisting of a psychological assessment. If you proceed from the assessment, 4 more steps follow, the last of which consists of an interview with the ESA Director general, Josef Aschbacher.

In a press conference, Aschbacher said that there would be more chances to work with space for those who did not land a spot at the astronaut program.
ESA will employ 500 people over the next five years.

In the press conference the director of human and robotic exploration, David Parker, was asked why ESA is recruiting more astronauts and he replied:

"We have a job to do in space and we have a job to do to discover space, as well as to use space as a place to work and live in".

In September you have the chance to visit the Warp Space Summit. Read more here.

🛰 Space

You might also like

WALL-Y 2 min read

🔭 Solar telescope tracks the source of the solar wind for the first time

Solar Orbiter has made the first direct measurement of the solar wind and traced it back to its source. Measurements show that the solar wind comes from areas with sunspots where the magnetic field is intense. The discovery could improve predictions of solar storms that affect Earth.

WALL-Y 1 min read

🌒 Space probe returns with samples from the far side of the moon - for the first time

The Chang'e 6 probe has successfully retrieved rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon. The samples are expected to contain 2.5 million-year-old volcanic rock. This is the first time samples from the far side of the moon have been collected.

WALL-Y 2 min read

🔭 New space telescope could potentially see city lights on exoplanets

NASA's new space telescope will search for habitable exoplanets. The telescope will be able to detect both biological and technological signs of life. It may also potentially search for city lights on the night side of habitable exoplanets.