2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group

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The 2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group is a forthcoming selection of 4-6 new members of the European Astronaut Corps. It is the fourth European Space Agency (ESA) recruitment campaign and the first since 2008.[1] Over 22 thousand applications were received and the announcement of the selected astronaut candidates is expected in late 2022.[1][2]

Along with the "career astronauts" the campaign also intends to recruit a "reserve pool" of astronauts who "will not be permanent ESA staff, but could have the opportunity to be selected for specific projects, as project astronauts."[1] Successful candidates will join the continuing corps of ESA astronauts, those selected in 2009, to perform long-duration spaceflight missions aboard the International Space Station, and "...will form part of the crew for the next missions to the moon in the late 2020s and through the 2030s"[3] – as part of the Artemis program – and eventually, a human mission to Mars.[4]

Recruitment[]

ESA press conferences
video icon Recruitment campaign launch – English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish. 16 February 2021

The recruitment campaign was announced at press conferences in February 2021.[5] Applications for the roles of "astronaut" and "astronaut (with a physical disability)" in the ESA Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration Programmes were accepted between 31 March and 18 June.[6][7] The original deadline of May 28 was extended by three weeks due to Lithuania joining ESA as an associate-member of ESA, and its citizens therefore becoming eligible to apply for the astronaut selection program, only a week before the original deadline.[8]

Criteria[]

Recruits may be a citizen of any ESA member or associate-member state.[note 1] Women were particularly encouraged to apply — in order to address the gender gap among astronauts[10] — as under 16% of applicants in the previous recruitment campaign were women.[11][12] The campaign also explicitly intends to recruit a person with a physical disability through the "parastronaut feasibility project" with the intention, but not guarantee, of spaceflight.[11][13][4] The types of disability considered for recruitment are lower limb deficiency (e.g. due to amputation or congenital limb deficiency), leg length difference, or short stature.[14]

The minimum formal criteria included: being a citizen of an ESA member (or associate member) state under the age of 50; being between 150 and 190 cm tall (with possible exception under the parastronaut category); a "normal weight" BMI range; fluency in English and another language; a master's degree in the Natural Sciences, Medicine, Engineering, Mathematics/Computer Sciences (plus three years of professional experience), or accreditation as an experimental test pilot; a "hearing capacity of 25 dB or better per ear"; and a current class 2 pilot's medical certificate.[15][1] Upon selection, recruits would then receive training in "...the essentials of being an astronaut, survival skills and the Russian language, before moving on to robotics, navigation, maintenance and spacewalks", and then receiving mission-specific training.[16]

Applicants[]

22,523 applications were received with candidates from all eligible nationalities (including Lithuania), as well as 257 for the parastronaut program.[2] This represented a 2.8x increase in the number of applications received compared to the previous ESA astronaut selection process.[17] Almost five and a half thousand applicants (24%) were women – up from 1287 (15.3%) female applicants in the previous selection process.[17] Estonia had the highest proportion of female applicants, while Switzerland had the least.[2]

With over seven thousand applications the largest number of applicants were French citizens, almost twice as many as the next most common applicant citizenship, Germans. It was speculated that the popularity of the call for applicants among French citizens was due to Thomas Pesquet's "Alpha" mission to the ISS beginning while the application period was open.[18] More than a thousand applications were also received from British, Spanish, Italian and Belgian citizens, while less than 100 applications were received from Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Luxembourgers, and Slovenians.[19] ESA stressed that the eventual selection is "irrespective" of national funding of the organisation.[20]

Applicants by citizenship – total (%♀)[2]
Austria Austria Belgium Belgium Czech Republic Czech Republic Denmark Denmark Estonia Estonia
466 (24.9%) 1007 (22.8%) 204 (18.1%) 145 (24.1%) 57 (38.6%)
Finland Finland France France Germany Germany Greece Greece Hungary Hungary
308 (18.8%) 7087 (23.2%) 3695 (28%) 281 (21.4%) 149 (22.8%)
Ireland Republic of Ireland Italy Italy Latvia Latvia Lithuania Lithuania Luxembourg Luxembourg
276 (28.3%) 1845 (18.8%) 83 (27.7%) 80 (23.8%) 64 (18.8%)
The Netherlands Netherlands Norway Norway Poland Poland Portugal Portugal Romania Romania
982 (30.1%) 391 (17.9%) 549 (23.3%) 320 (19.1%) 254 (21.7%)
Slovenia Slovenia Spain Spain Sweden Sweden Switzerland Switzerland United Kingdom United Kingdom
62 (21%) 1341 (22.2%) 281 (18.1%) 668 (17.8%) 2000 (28.5%)

While many applicants hold multiple citizenships, for statistical purposes ESA categorises them according to their self-declared first citizenship.

Selection process[]

The selection process itself is over 6 selection stages:[21]

  1. Screening "on the basis of documents submitted, the application form and the screening questionnaire." It was initially expected that approximately 1500 (7%) applicants would be accepted through to stage 2.[18] By the conclusion of the 1st stage in January 2022, 1361 astronaut candidates and 27 parastronaut candidates had been invited to the 2nd stage – including at least one man and one woman from every eligible nationality.[2][22]
  2. Initial tests, which "consists of cognitive, technical, motor coordination and personality tests."
  3. Assessment centre, "consisting of additional psychometric tests, individual and group exercises and practical tests."
  4. Medical tests "that will assess your physical and psychological condition in view of long-duration astronaut missions."
  5. Panel interview, "that will test your technical and behavioural competencies" and background check.
  6. Final interview, "usually consisting of an interview with the ESA Director General."
Selection process statistics
Stage Applicants

(of which para.)

Completed %♀ % of previous Ref.
Screening 22,780 (257) June 2021 24% – [2]
Initial test 1,388 (27) January 2022 39% 5.9% [2]
Assessment centre ~400 May 2022
[tentative] 		TBD ~28.8% [23]
Medical tests
Panel interview
Final interview
Confirmed October 2022
[tentative]
Astronauts
Parastronauts
Reserve pool

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ At the time, ESA members nations were: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Associate-members were Slovenia, Latvia, and Lithuania.[9] [8]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d "Astronaut selection 2021-22 FAQs". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Final figures show astronaut applicants from all ESA Member States". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
  3. ^ "Hunt on to find British astronaut to go to the moon - here's what you need to qualify". Sky News. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  4. ^ a b Reuters (2021-02-17). "Europe launches recruitment drive for female and disabled astronauts". the Guardian. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  5. ^ "Watch live: ESA outlines its search for astronauts". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  6. ^ "Astronaut Job Req ID: 12355". jobs.esa.int. 2021-03-31. Archived from the original on 2021-03-31. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  7. ^ "Astronaut (with a physical disability) Job Req ID: 12354". jobs.esa.int. 2021-03-31. Archived from the original on 2021-03-31. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  8. ^ a b "ESA extends deadline for astronaut applications as new Associate Member joins". www.esa.int. 2021-05-21. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
  9. ^ "Astronaut selection 2021-22 FAQs". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
  10. ^ "Women and people with disabilities 'often better adapted to spaceflight than men'". www.abc.net.au. 2021-02-17. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
  11. ^ a b "European Space Agency: Astronaut recruitment seeks disability applicants". BBC News. 2021-02-16. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  12. ^ "Applicants from all ESA Member States to become European astronauts". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
  13. ^ "European Space Agency in bid to recruit female and disabled astronauts". euronews. 2021-02-16. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  14. ^ "Parastronaut feasibility project". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2021-02-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ^ "Astronaut Application Handbook" (PDF). European Space Agency. 2021-03-31. p. 19. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-03-31. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  16. ^ O’Leary, Naomi. "European Space Agency launches search for new astronauts". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
  17. ^ a b "Wide range of applications for ESA's astronaut selection". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  18. ^ a b "Big numbers apply to be European astronauts". BBC News. 2021-06-23. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  19. ^ "ESA Astronaut Selection 2021: Preliminary Numbers" (PDF). European Space Agency. 2021-06-23. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-06-23. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  20. ^ "European Space Agency: Astronaut recruitment drive for greater diversity". BBC News. 2021-02-16. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  21. ^ "Astronaut Application Handbook" (PDF). European Space Agency. 2021-03-31. p. 13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-03-31. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  22. ^ "Astronaut selection: stage one complete". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
  23. ^ "ESA Television - Videos - 2022 - 01 - ESA Director General's Annual Press Conference". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2022-02-11.

External links[]

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