Space exploration recruitment drive: Could you be the UKs next astronaut? – iNews

Britons hoping to take their career to new heights are being encouraged to apply to become the UKs next astronaut in a recruitment drive launched on Tuesday.

For the first time in over a decade, the European Space Agency (ESA) is on the lookout for astronauts to join its latest cohort of space explorers.

The i newsletter latest news and analysis

People of any age and walk of life are invited to enter the rigorous screening and selection process, so long as they are fit, healthy and calm under pressure.

Experience of the space sector is not essential, but candidates will at least need a relevant Masters degree or to be qualified as an experimental test pilot and qualify as a parastronaut.

There is also special call for candidates with physical disabilities and from diverse backgrounds to apply to the programme.

British astronaut Major Tim Peake, who in 2015 became the first British astronaut to take part in a spacewalk, is piloting the new campaign.

Major Peake said: Over the next few years and decades, space exploration will become even more exciting as we travel back to the Moon and even further to Mars.

For space missions to succeed, they require highly motivated people from diverse backgrounds to combine their skills and work as a team.

The Governments Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, Amanda Solloway, said the UK aims to be seen as a leading space-faring nation.

After intensive training, which will include a three-week caving exercise and a course in practical geology, the new astronauts will take their first flights into space when they are deployed to the International Space Station.

Applications will open at the end of next month and stay open until the end of May.

There will then be a 17-month process of psychological, practical, psychometric and medical screening and testing, before the successful applicants are appointed in October 2022.

They are likely to be part of the crew on the ESAs next missions to the moon in the late 2020s and throughout the 2030s.

Read the original here:

Space exploration recruitment drive: Could you be the UKs next astronaut? - iNews