Features
| ARROWS ARE COMING |  | | | VIEW FROM THE HILL | | | | AT THE CINEMA | | | | STAGE AND MUSIC GUIDE | | |
|
|
|
Walking on the moon
 |
| TO INFINITY AND BEYOND: A new hope for budding Buzz Lightyears |
IF, LIKE Buzz Lightyear, it's always been your ambition to boldly go where only a very few humans have ever gone before, then your ideal job is about to be advertised.
The European Space Agency is about to launch its search for four new astronauts to follow in the rocket trail of Neil Armstrong, John Glen and Yuri Gagarin and go into space, to the Moon - and maybe even Mars.
Michel Tognini, former astronaut and chief of the European Astronaut Centre says: "We want to find high-calibre men and women in Europe to prepare to meet the challenges of human exploration of our solar system in the 21st century. The ESA will be searching in each of its 17 member states for the best candidates to make this vision a reality."
But what will budding Buzzes actually have to do?
Well, says the agency, first off will be a screening process similar to that used to determine the fitness of private pilots.
Then there will be two stages of psychological and professional aptitude evaluation, including behavioural and cognitive skills tests.
After that comes medical evaluation, including clinical examination by aero- medical physicians and clinical specialists, laboratory screening tests, and special procedures.
Finally comes the formal interview, with candidates going before an ESA selection board for further professional assessment.
The lucky four will then be appointed next year and will begin basic training at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.
Gerhard Thiele, head of ESA's Astronaut Division and a former spaceflyer, said prospective candidates should be competent in a science discipline, such as life sciences, physics, chemistry and medicine. Engineers or pilots are also welcome to apply, he added.
But the agency will also be looking for applicants with the necessary personal skills to cope with life on board space-ships and the ESA's own Columbus laboratory.
Why does this matter? According to Charles Elder, spokesman for Bournemouth University - which urges its students to ask Where could you go tomorrow?' - lifeskills are an increasingly important part of specialised work environments.
"Let's face it, if you can't get on with your fellow astronauts and work in a team, it doesn't matter how clever you are," he says. "If you look at what can go wrong in space, like the Apollo 13 mission, having the right personal skills are vital and I believe these are something the ESA will be looking for, too."
He said that while the agency would be particularly looking at trained pilots and people with engineering and physics skills, like NASA, the ESA are looking for people with the right personality. "You can't just train people in a discipline, you have to help them with the lifeskills they need to take it a step further," he says.
An American, Mr Elder grew up in the USA and remembers all the greatest moments in the space race. He says that astronauts are still highly regarded in American society.
"I can remember visiting Houston when I was a child and this man came out dressed in the orange suit with all these badges and we were like Is he famous?' He turned out to be an astronaut and everyone was clamouring to meet him. Even now, there is still high coverage of space issues on American TV and people respect what they do."
Would he like a Bournemouth University student to get on the ESA programme? "Yes! It would be fantastic. So few people have ever gone into space and even fewer of them have walked on the moon, it would be an enormous honour. Whoever gets these astronaut places will have to be very special."
Further details about becoming an ESA astronaut are available from the website esa.int/astronautselection from May 19.
7:00pm Thursday 8th May 2008
Print 
Email this
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
