After more than a year of testing, European Space Agency (ESA) today finally announced its new batch of astronauts. This is a special case because there are two Spaniards, one in the final list and the other in the reserves.
The first Pablo Alvarez, a 34-year-old aeronautical engineer, and on the spare list is Sara Garcia, biotechnology and 33 years. Both are from León and studied their profession at the University of León.
Thus, Pablo will become the third Spanish astronaut in history after the Latin American astronaut. Miguel Lopez Alegriaworked for NASA, and former minister Pedro Dukewho was recruited as an ESA astronaut in 1992. As for Sarah, if she finally gets a job as an astronaut, she will be the first Spanish female astronaut.
New Spanish astronauts.
The ESA selection process lasted over a year and consisted of six phase. Participants had to have at least an academic degree and a master’s degree and, in addition, have worked for at least three years. must speak English and another language, in addition to their native language, and have training in diving and swimming. In addition, their height must be between 1.50 and 1.90 and they must not be over 50 years old.
In the case of the selected Spanish astronaut, he graduated in aviation technology at the University of León, and then received a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Warsaw. Speak fluently Spanish, English, Polish and French and already has experience with ESA, working as a mission mechanical architect. exomareswhich would have to go to Mars this year, if not for the break in relations between ESA and Roscosmos.
He has another year and a half of training ahead of him. European Astronaut Center in Cologne (Germany) with the rest of the ESA astronauts, among whom people with disabilities were also selected for this occasion. Once trained, they will fly missions to the International Space Station, but they will also take part in two of the agency’s great missions of the future: the lunar mission scheduled for 2030 and the lunar mission. manned mission to Mars.
Biotech is ready to become an astronaut
ESA also selected a reserve of 20 astronauts for the first time. And that’s where Sarah Garcia is. She graduated in biotechnology at the University of Leon. There he began a research career which he later continued at the Salamanca Cancer Research Center. She is currently a Research Fellow at the National Center for Cancer Research (CNIO), collaborating with the Spanish Cancer Association and doing research and outreach.
Both she and Pablo are part of the only 28 spanish who passed to the second round of tests. Initially 1341 appeared. It is a pride to have them; Well, it certainly won’t be the last time we hear their names.
Source: Hiper Textual
