Being an astronaut is a dream of many children. Exploring the Universe in a shiny helmet is part of our imagination, despite being an extremely distant reality for almost everyone. Working on this is something quite challenging and difficult to achieve, but becoming an astronaut is not impossible.
First, you need to understand that an astronaut's work goes well beyond exploring space. In fact, most of them spend their lives without ever leaving Earth. But the fact is that most of those who enter this challenging selection process dream of the chance of one day boarding a rocket.
What does it take to become an astronaut?
There is an extremely competitive process at NASA. To give you an idea, it is considered to be about 74 times more difficult than the famous Harvard University. That is, if you intend to try to be an astronaut, it is good to prepare a lot, because there are a series of requirements.
Despite not having a specific academic background, to enter the process a bachelor's degree in engineering, biological sciences, physical sciences, putative sciences or mathematics is recommended. In addition, astronauts are also pilots, so professional experience flying aircraft is also a great asset.
To become an astronaut, you also need physical skills, diving and a body accustomed to rigorous training, as well as knowledge of languages. In addition to English, obviously, Russian is very necessary due to the missions that NASA carries out to Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. all this, military training is also desired.
What is the selection process?
Well, to start off with some statistics. In 2017, for example, the astronaut class of the season was formed by only 12 of the 18.300 applicants. This gives an idea of how complicated the life of someone who wants to occupy such a position is.
The process itself mainly involves three elements: profile analysis, medical examination and interview. Initially, applicants are evaluated by NASA HR to see if they fit the profile. The pre-selected then go to a panel of the Astronaut Classification Panel, put together by about 50 professionals in the field.
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The panel selects about 120 candidates who also pass through the Astronaut Selection Board, where interviews and medical examinations take place. Of the 120, there are 50 who go through a new round like the previous one. From this comes the final lean group, which does not have a predetermined amount and varies according to the number of well-evaluated candidates.
After that, the chosen few undergo basic training, which lasts about two years and involves piloting, diving, Russian lessons and intense physical training. Only after this step do astronauts start helping and contributing to missions and only a small number of them get the chance to visit space one day.
This is NASA's process, the most competitive and long to become an astronaut. But in the case of the European Space Agency (ESA), for example, not much changes. The level of demand remains quite high and the necessary qualifications are very similar.
o become an astronaut being spanish?
Well, first of all, in order to participate in the NASA or ESA process, it is necessary to be nationals of the United States or of one of the 22 member countries of the European agency, respectively. That is, there is naturally no way to become an astronaut if you are Spanish.
The ESA countries are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK United. Associated nations also include Canada, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta and Slovakia.
The good news is that some of these countries have a simplified process for those who want to obtain citizenship, which can facilitate the dream of those who want to be an astronaut.
But is it possible to become an astronaut just by being a Spanish citizen? Well, we only have one such history, that of Marcos Pontes. At the time there was a project in Brazil in partnership with international agencies to take a Spaniard into space. There is currently no such program in progress. However, Brazil participates, for example, in the Artemis Program, which aims to take astronauts to the Moon again. So, who knows, maybe in the future an opportunity like this will appear again.
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