CAJ #4: How can I become an astronaut?

Personal connection to my CAJ

Once, when I was little, I said to my mum: “Mummy, one day, when I am grown up, I want to fly to the universe and look down upon the Earth from another perspective. I want to explore new planets and, who knows, maybe find new life there.”

I am lucky that I got the chance to write about a topic that has always been of great interest and importance to me. I have always been fascinated by the planets that are surrounding our Earth and have always wanted to study something in order to be able to discover new planets. As I have always been fascinated about space exploration, I imagined that working for a space exploring company would be quite interesting. How often have a just listened to the sentence that stayed in our minds like no other “That's one small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind” and thought about what would have I said if I was the first woman to be on the moon? This was, of course, me just daydreaming about flying around in space. I had no idea of the conditions and qualities an astronaut needs. To be able to bear tremendous responsibility while in orbit is not something that is learned overnight. According to ESA an astronaut needs: “A high level of education in scientific or technical disciplines, coupled with an outstanding professional background in research, application or education fields possibly supported by the use of computer systems and applications, is essential. Previous experience with aircraft operations is a bonus, particularly if it involved responsible tasks such as being a test pilot or flight engineer. The more skills and experience an applicant has the better, as this will increase their ability to undertake a variety of tasks.”

One out of a few thousand applicants manages to make a change. I guess that’s what discouraged me in the end and made me study languages (which I love btw). :D