Finns eagerly sign up for astronaut training

ESA PR tour attracts considerable interest

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Starting salary EUR 4,000-7,000 in hand, with a long list of other benefits, along with the possibility of flying to the moon in the early part of the 2020s.
      Anybody interested?
     
At least around 20 Finns are taking the application process seriously. This week the time for applications began for the astronaut group for the European Space Agency, which Finnish citizens now have the possibility to join, for the first time.
      On Wednesday the ESA marketing tour arrived in Helsinki, where the would-be applicants listened to the message of the organisation, along with a big crowd of journalists. A total of more than 100 people crammed into the university lecture hall to hear about the project.
     
The ESA invitation had been heard at least at the airline Finnair, as a few pilots showed up.
      Vesa Uuspelto, 28, a pilot living in Vantaa, felt that the demands were challenging but not impossible.
      Uusipelto, who has a degree in political science, admitted that his university background does not correspond with the requirements, but he still wants to submit his papers.
      “The psychological tests sounded the same as those that pilots are given”, Uusipelto says. “It would take a huge amount of good luck to be selected”, he added.
     
Also wanting to be an astronaut is 40-year-old engineer Matti Haavisto, from Lempäälä, even though he does not yet have a pilot’s licence.
      “Getting into space has been my greatest dream since childhood”, Haavisto explains.
      ESA also expects applications from Finnish space engineers, and, for instance, scientists from the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
      Daniela Hanhike, 17, is aiming at the next round of applications.
      “The chances are slight, but it is worth trying. Next I plan to do my military service as a pilot, or to university to study biology”, Hanhike says.
      “Some laugh at the dream of a career as an astronaut, but others take it seriously, which is great.”
     
The most long-awaited speech given to the applicants was from the first Nordic astronaut, Christer Fuglesang from Sweden.
      “The liftoff is the most important moment of our lives”, said Fuglesang, who has become a super-celebrity in Sweden.
      Previously, the ESA has accepted astronauts only from countries that have taken part in the massive costs of manned space flights.
      ESA deputy director Horst Schaarschmidt insists that the application process, which has now been expanded to new countries, is not just an advertising campaign for the organisation. He says that Finns have a real possibility to get to become an astronaut, although the money tap has been kept turned off.
      “The purpose is simply to find as many good applicants as possible”, Schaarschmidt says.


Links:
  European Space Agency (ESA)

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