ESA swamped by over 23,000 applicants for astronaut program
- Reference: 1629870312
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/08/25/esa_parastronaut_feasibility_project/
- Source link:
Upon assessment, around 20 per cent of applicants were found not to meet the requirements for the job, so were quickly informed they would not be considered.
However "more than 80 per cent of all remaining, eligible applications are still under review," according to Antonella Costa, HR business partner at the Agency (ESA).
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As the ~18,500 applicants are rather more than the ESA expected, the Agency has apologised for slow response time.
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"If you have not yet been invited, it does not necessarily mean that your application is not being considered. We ask you for your patience as we process applications and issue these invitations," Costa said. If you applied, the ESA promises you'll hear one way or another by the end of November.
That's a little later than the original planned October timeline for approvals.
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Those that the ESA thinks might have the right stuff are invited to a day-long testing session. Some of those sessions have already taken place and more are scheduled through to the end of 2021.
[5]ESA gives UK space an £8.5m Boost: Rocketeers eye a 2022 launch
[6]Judge dismisses objections to spaceport in Scotland from billionaire who also wants to build spaceport in Scotland
[7]International Space Station actually spun one-and-a-half times by errant Russian module's thrusters
The ESA has also run a [8]Parastronaut feasibility project – an effort to recruit astronauts with a physical disability including a deficiency of the feet or legs, through the ankle or below the knee, because of amputation or congenital limb deficiency. Leg length difference is also acceptable, while those of short stature (<130 cm) will also be considered.
That program runs in parallel withy the general astronaut program.
There's no guarantee any of the applicants for the Parastronaut program will ever reach space, but the ESA thinks it is worth investigating how to include persons with a disability in its crewed space program. ®
Editor's Note: This story was amended to reflect the backlog is in the general astronaut recruitment program, not the Parastronaut program alone.
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Re: open to citizens of EU states or associate nations
Sorry, you are wrong in assuming that the the UK is excluded from this. ESA is NOT an EU institution, although Brussels has tried several times to take control of it. In fact ESA predates the EU by at lease a decade or two. The UK is still a very active member and is still contributing to a lot of the programmes, including manned spaceflight.
Little know fact - Canada is also a member of ESA, albeit an associated member.
The article is not well worded - anyone who is a citizen of an ESA member or associate state may apply.
The UK is still a member of the ESA, the Galileo bust up was to do with the political value of the system rather than problems with the ESA.
Of course there were a lot of applicants...
It's an out of this world opportunity to have a blast off this rock & get to moon the Earth with your tiny shiny asteroid! *Grin*
I'd give ....
.... my right arm to be able to become an astronaut!
----------> Mines the one with only one sleeve!
We don’t need disabled people in space
We need sociopath billionaires in space so they can see exactly what it is they are destroying with their arrogance
Some of those launches need to be one way only
"The program is open to citizens of EU states or associate nations, ..."
This is incorrect - ESA is not an EU organisation.
"Please note that applications are only considered from nationals of one of the following States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Latvia and Slovenia."
The closing date was extended for applications from new ESA associate member state, Lithuania.
About ESA, the EU, GSA and Brexit
After the 2019 UK general election, the EC demanded that ESA sack all British citizens from EC funded programmes(ostensibly for reasons of security) but the UK remains a core member of ESA. The EC had their own organisation (GSA) that controlled only Galileo and EGNOS but development and procurements for these programmes have long been subcontracted to ESA (not least because GSA never had the expertise). Then the EC changed GSA to EUSPA (EU Agency for the Space Programme), broadened their scope and gave them a huge budget. Over the last year, EUSPA have been actively trying to force ESA out of Galileo and EGNOS, with the hope that they can seize ESA's staff and IP. The longer term goals of EC and EUSPA are to borg ESA, along with their assets, IP and staff.
The ideal astronaut
Last century some time, the perfect astronaut was described (in the language of the time, so apologies for the offence caused) as "a midget with a physics degree".
I guess the physics degree still holds, and also maybe the achondroplasia (the correct medical term https://patient.info/bones-joints-muscles/restricted-growth-dwarfism).
Watch the current paralympics for potential parastronauts as I'm guessing they want people to be physically really fit.
open to citizens of EU states or associate nations
So the UK has shot its citizens in the foot, then? So to speak...
John Varley considers various changes to the human body which might better suit it for life in zero-g in various of his books, for example, The Ophiuchi Hotline.