Nearly 1,000 Dutch people apply as astronauts at ESA

The job offer published by the European Space Agency in February received a lot of responses. The nominating committee must review no less than 22,000 nomination letters from people wishing to become astronauts.

Nearly a thousand Dutch are among the candidates. 998 CVs and cover letters from compatriots have fallen on the carpet of the European Space Agency. 30% of letters come from Dutch women. A total of 300 women applied for the post.

ESA is looking for several astronauts

Only in Estonia were there a higher percentage of women who applied, although there were significantly fewer registrations overall. The number of women is good news: one of ESA’s goals is to recruit more women to increase diversity. The association is also looking for parachutists: astronauts with a slight physical handicap. “Diversity at ESA should not only be about the race, age, origin or gender of our astronauts, but perhaps also about physical limitations,” the organization said in February.

ESA is looking for people who want to go to space. Of the 22,000 people who applied, four to six will be hired. In addition, a pool of about twenty reserve astronauts is being set up. These people are on call for short commercial space trips.

Not just any astronaut

In principle, anyone can apply, but those who want to be invited must meet a number of conditions. You must have a master’s degree in a specific subject, be fluent in English, have three years of professional experience and people over 50 are excluded. You must also come from one of the ESA Member States.

A large selection must now be made: a maximum of 1500 people will qualify for the second round. These people have to do a psychological test. After that, the sorting will continue and ESA hopes to introduce the new astronauts in October.

New station on the moon

The last time ESA looked for astronauts was in 2008. Applications were significantly fewer: “only” 8,413 people sent in their cover letter, including 200 from the Netherlands. Italians, Italians, Germans, British, French and Danes have all been to the International Space Station in recent years. During the call for candidates in 1998, the Dutchman André Kuipers was hired.

With the next crew of astronauts, Europe is entering a new era of space exploration, according to the organization. Europe is working with the United States, Canada and Japan on manned journeys to the moon. Europe can provide at least three astronauts who will live in a new space station around the moon. New astronauts can also travel to the International Space Station.

Another little astronaut

Are you not fit to be an astronaut or have you arrived too late to apply for a job? Then you can also save for your own space trip. SpaceX, the space company of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, wants to send tourist trips to the ISS next year. A place in the rocket would cost you 49 million euros. For the night, you must pay 31,000 euros, know RTL.

You can also watch closer to your home, on the many streaming services you can see the best astronaut movies. Here’s how you watch Stanley Kubrick’s classic on Prime, 2001: a space odyssey fr Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. Ad Astra with Brad Pitt as the astronaut, you’ll find it there too. On Netflix, you will find Apollo 13, The Cloverfield Paradox and the mini-series Challenger. The latter is a documentary series about the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, if you want to be quickly cured of your space dream.

Career change ? NASA is looking for astronauts