The mission, scheduled to last 30-60 days, will see a Hungarian astronaut fly into space in the middle of the decade.Continue reading
149 Hungarians applied for the European Space Agency’s new astronaut class. The first round of selection has now been completed, with eight of those shortlisted making it to the second round.
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) new astronaut class has 22,523 applicants altogether, with 1,361 candidates making it to the second round.
The highest number of applications came from France (7,087), followed by Germany (3,695) and the United Kingdom (2,000). According to the ESA’s figures, 149 applications were received from Hungary, 115 men and 34 women. Three men and five women from Hungary qualified for the second round. An illustration of the countries from where people applied and their gender distribution can be viewed here.
The second round starts with a full-day psychological performance test at an ESA facility in Europe. Candidates who successfully pass the second phase will undergo psychological interviews and group tests, followed by medical examinations. Those who successfully pass these selection stages will be invited to interviews. ESA’s new class of astronauts and astronaut reserves is expected to be announced in autumn 2022.
Last July, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced that after Bertalan Farkas’ spaceflight in 1980, and Charles Simonyi’s in 2007, a Hungarian astronaut could soon be a spacewalker again.
Featured image: illustration via Pixabay