31 years after graduation Pedro Dukethere is already another one in Spain Spanish astronaut. The European Space Agency (ESA) just celebrated the graduation of five astronauts from the Class of 2022, including Leon’s Pablo Alvarez.
French graduates graduated with him. Sophie AdenoIrish Rosemary CooganBelgian Raphael Liegeois and the Swiss Marco Sieber. Although she does not belong to ESA, the current astronaut of the Australian Space Agency also received the title along with them. Katherine Bennell-Pegg. The agency has a cooperative agreement with ESA, so its new astronaut participated in the same training program as the others.
But what does this training consist of? What did the new Spanish astronaut and all his companions do to get to this ceremony? The first steps, as they explained one by one after finishing school, are enthusiasm and desire since they were small. But, logically, there is many other requirements.
Pablo Alvarez’s steps towards becoming the new Spanish astronaut
In 2021, ESA received 23,000 applications from people wanting to become astronauts. The call stated that everyone must meet several requirements, three of which are the most important: belonging to any of the Member States European Union or associated states, have graduate school in the field of science and have 3 years professional experience in these areas. It is logical that the presence fluent English. Other languages are not required, but are highly appreciated. In addition, ESA values motivation, flexibility in the workplace, calm under pressure, fitness and health, both physical and mental, and even communication skills to fly the agency as its flag.
Following these premises, at the first stage we chose 1000 people who had to conduct a large number of tests, after which only 5 candidates who have already completed their training.
In the case of new Spanish astronaut Pablo Alvarez, he more than fits the bill. Is higher education in aeronautical engineeringwith a master’s degree in Aerospace engineering. We have a postgraduate research program there. He also has considerable work experience, having worked as a design engineer for Airbus and Safran in Spain, the UK and France. In the first company he worked as a designer-mechanic of the Mars rover. ExoMars from ESA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. It was even Project Director for Airbus Operations in Spain.
On the other hand, it meets the requirement of speaking. English fluently, but to this language are added Polish, French and, of course, Spanish.
So what now?
Before graduating, Alvarez and his classmates received training at several centers, especially ESA Astronaut Training Centerlocated in Cologne, Germany.
There they received training on issues related to ship management, robotics, flight technology and communications. They also performed survival maneuvers, first aid and operating life support equipment.
Of course, they had to spend a lot of time physical and psychological tests who, in addition to training, have confirmed that they are ready to go into space when required.
We must remember that, in addition to this Spanish astronaut, we also have a Spanish woman among the reservists: a biotechnologist Sarah Garcia. Of the representatives of this class, the only one who had already been in space was one of the reservists. We do not rule out that we will see her soon. Be that as it may, both of them became an example and gave us a new reason to dream about space.
Source: Hiper Textual
