Nevertheless it gained’t be simple to land one of many coveted positions, it warned at a information convention final week.
First, ESA expects a “very excessive quantity” of purposes to come back in through the eight-week recruitment drive from March 31, mentioned Lucy van der Tas, ESA head of expertise acquisition.
Second, these whose purposes are accepted will endure a rigorous six-stage choice course of that can take till October 2022.
“Candidates should be mentally ready for this course of,” van der Tas mentioned.
Adapting know-how that enabled people to be in area may open the chance for individuals with disabilities, Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti mentioned.
“In terms of area journey, we’re all disabled,” Cristoforetti added.
Human area flight seems to be set for a revival.
After years wherein the one launch website for crewed flights to area was Baikonur within the steppes of Kazakhstan, cooperation with non-public corporations like SpaceX has raised prospects for extra human missions.
Necessities for an astronaut job at ESA embody a grasp’s diploma in pure sciences, engineering, arithmetic or pc science and three years of postgraduate expertise.
“I feel it’s an excellent alternative. . . . Will probably be a chance to be taught rather a lot about yourselves,” Cristoforetti mentioned.