A bumper crop of applications for the ESA’s astronaut corps is providing a boost to proposals for Europe to develop its own human spaceflight capability.
WASHINGTON — A bumper crop of applications for the European Space Agency’s astronaut corps is providing a boost to proposals for Europe to develop its own human spaceflight capability.
ESA announced June 23 that it received 22589 applications in a solicitation that ended June 18. That’s far more than the 8413 applications it received in the previous astronaut selection round in 2018.
“Having more than 22000 applicants is quite a number,” Josef Aschbacher, ESA director general, said in a press conference about the application figures. “This is, I would call it, almost a historic moment for us that we have so many applicants that want to become astronauts. From that point of view, I’m more than satisfied. I’m extremely thrilled by these numbers.”