Europe is looking for new astronauts: 'Disabled people are also welcome'
Modified: February 08, 2021 16:42
Astronaut André KuipersImage © ANP
For the first time in eleven years, Europe is looking for new astronauts. Space agency ESA will launch a campaign for the new vacancies at the end of March.
Every European can apply from March 31 to May 28 for the new vacancies for astronauts. ESA is hoping for many applications from women to increase diversity.
The new astronauts must be shown to the world in October 2022.
Parastronauts
The ESA also wants to give people with disabilities the opportunity to go to space. The organization calls them parastronauts: "Diversity at ESA should not only be about origins, age, background or gender of our astronauts, but perhaps also about physical limitations."
In 2010 the previous group of astronauts was hired. It consisted of two Italians, a German, a Briton, a French and a Dane. They have all gone to the International Space Station in recent years. More than 8000 Europeans had then registered for the selection rounds, including more than two hundred Dutch people. In the round before that, in 1998, the Dutchman André Kuipers was hired.
To the moon
With the next crew of astronauts, Europe is entering "a new era of space exploration," said ESA. The organization works with the United States, Canada and Japan on manned journeys to the moon. In 2024, two Americans must set foot on the moon, for the first time since 1972.
A space station must also be built in orbit around the moon. Europe can provide at least three astronauts who will live in that space station near the moon.
Why we are going back to the moon
So far three Dutch people
So far, three native Dutch have been in space. Lodewijk van den Berg from the Zeeuws-Flemish Sluiskil was the first. He flew the space shuttle Challenger in early 1985. Van den Berg did so after he was naturalized as an American.
Wubbo Ockels was the first Dutch citizen to orbit the Earth. He went to space in late 1985, also in the Challenger. It was the last successful mission of the space shuttle, which exploded on its next launch in January 1986. All seven crew members were killed.
André Kuipers is the most experienced Dutch astronaut. He went to the space station ISS for a week and a half in April 2004. He also stayed there from December 2011 to July 2012.
Modified: February 08, 2021 16:42
Astronaut André KuipersImage © ANP
For the first time in eleven years, Europe is looking for new astronauts. Space agency ESA will launch a campaign for the new vacancies at the end of March.
Every European can apply from March 31 to May 28 for the new vacancies for astronauts. ESA is hoping for many applications from women to increase diversity.
The new astronauts must be shown to the world in October 2022.
Parastronauts
The ESA also wants to give people with disabilities the opportunity to go to space. The organization calls them parastronauts: "Diversity at ESA should not only be about origins, age, background or gender of our astronauts, but perhaps also about physical limitations."
In 2010 the previous group of astronauts was hired. It consisted of two Italians, a German, a Briton, a French and a Dane. They have all gone to the International Space Station in recent years. More than 8000 Europeans had then registered for the selection rounds, including more than two hundred Dutch people. In the round before that, in 1998, the Dutchman André Kuipers was hired.
To the moon
With the next crew of astronauts, Europe is entering "a new era of space exploration," said ESA. The organization works with the United States, Canada and Japan on manned journeys to the moon. In 2024, two Americans must set foot on the moon, for the first time since 1972.
A space station must also be built in orbit around the moon. Europe can provide at least three astronauts who will live in that space station near the moon.
Why we are going back to the moon
So far three Dutch people
So far, three native Dutch have been in space. Lodewijk van den Berg from the Zeeuws-Flemish Sluiskil was the first. He flew the space shuttle Challenger in early 1985. Van den Berg did so after he was naturalized as an American.
Wubbo Ockels was the first Dutch citizen to orbit the Earth. He went to space in late 1985, also in the Challenger. It was the last successful mission of the space shuttle, which exploded on its next launch in January 1986. All seven crew members were killed.
André Kuipers is the most experienced Dutch astronaut. He went to the space station ISS for a week and a half in April 2004. He also stayed there from December 2011 to July 2012.
