So 94 percent were told they were losing weight. “It’s a competitive process,” said Antonella Costa from ESA’s HR department. “Even those who simply met the criteria to participate should actually be proud of themselves.”
Those who cannot become an astronaut may well aspire to a job at the ESA, Costa comforts. “We encourage them to definitely do that.” The others may continue to dream of one day flying to the moon or to Mars or the ISS, whether or not as a full-time astronaut.
In the end there will be hardly 4 astronauts remain and 20 spare astronauts. In a subsequent round, candidates were invited to a test day in Hamburg, where their knowledge, technical and motor skills and personality were tested. For example, tests for ready knowledge of physics and mathematics were on the menu, and candidates had to do a flight simulation.
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