Who will become an astronaut?

12.04.2013, 08:24

A pilot, a doctor, a programmer ... who gets preference in the preparation of astronauts? Who chooses the "unearthly" profession and who is left behind? "Voice of Russia"’s correspondent spoke to the candidates aspiring to become astronauts and tried to figure out what distinguishes the current residents of the Cosmonaut Training Center from their predecessors. At the very beginning of the space age, the list of requirements for the astronauts read: height - below 170 cm, profession - test pilot, age – below 30 years. Of course, there were many other selection criteria related to physical and mental health. But one thing was clear: in order to go to space, it was necessary to have a high level of flight training.It has now become a common practice to involve not only specialists in various fields of space technology in orbital flights, but also mathematicians, physicists, and engineers. Programmer Peter Dubrov joined the training center a year ago after the first ever open civilian selection. On the Internet, 300 people from all over Russia appeared for the competition. The main requirements were age under 35 years, a university degree and work experience of three years. All those who passed this stage were invited to go in for physical tests. Only eight people were able to withstand the trials. Now they have joined the team of the cosmonauts. But this does not mean that all of them will fly into space, explains Peter Dubrov. More Source: Voice of Russia.