Italy in space
How do you become an astronaut?
The requirements are public and broader than people assume. The hard part is not the degree: it is how rarely the chance comes, and how many people apply.
In brief
For a European citizen the main route is the European selection, which opens very rarely. The minimum requirements are a master's degree in science, medicine, engineering or maths and computing, at least three years of professional experience after graduating, fluent English and aviation-grade medical fitness. A doctorate counts as experience, and a test pilot qualification is an alternative route.
Key points
- You do not need to be a military pilot: a science or engineering master's plus three years of experience is the ordinary route, the test pilot licence is only one alternative.
- Experience gained during a doctorate counts towards the three years required.
- You need citizenship of one of the European agency's member or associate states, and Italy is among them.
- The last European selection drew more than 22,500 applications and produced 17 names: 5 astronaut candidates and 12 in reserve, including two Italians.
- Openings are rare: the selection launched in 2021 was the first in 13 years.
- Being selected does not mean flying: years of training follow, then the wait for a mission assignment.
It is one of the most searched questions about space, and the answer has a disappointing part and an encouraging one. The disappointing part is that it does not depend on you alone: somebody has to open a call, and that happens roughly once a decade. The encouraging part is that the requirements are public, precise and far less exotic than the popular image suggests.
The way in
Individual European countries do not select astronauts on their own: they take part in the European astronaut corps. The selections are opened by the European space agency, and citizens of member and associate states can apply.
The last selection opened in 2021 and closed in 2022. Before that, the previous one was in 2008: thirteen years apart. That is the real constraint. There is no annual competition to retry: there is a window that opens rarely, and it pays to arrive already holding the requirements.
The minimum requirements, concretely
From the frequently asked questions published for the 2021-22 selection, the criteria were these:
- Qualification: at least a master’s degree in natural sciences (physics, Earth, atmospheric, ocean or biological sciences), medicine, engineering, or mathematics and computing. A doctorate or further master’s degrees in the same areas count in your favour.
- Experience: at least three years of professional work after graduating. Laboratory work counts, so does field research, hospital practice, and so does the doctoral period.
- Alternative route: a qualification as an experimental test pilot or test flight engineer from an official school.
- Citizenship: of a member or associate state of the agency.
- Language: fluent English, with a Europass CV and a motivation letter in English.
- Medical fitness: an aviation-grade certificate, equivalent to European class 2 for private pilots.
Notice what is not on that list: a height limit, a maximum age, a military background, a specific nationality within Europe. The profile sought is a technical or scientific professional with real experience, in good health.
What the tests measure
Once past the paper selection, the process runs for months and changes character: it moves from qualifications to people. There are cognitive and aptitude tests, individual and group psychological assessments, thorough medicals and interviews.
Two details show what actually counts. The first month of training includes a swimming test, because the job involves demanding physical activity and underwater training to simulate spacewalks. And there is training on parabolic flights, aircraft that fly trajectories producing short periods of free fall. The body has to tolerate them.
The rest of the assessment measures something less cinematic and more decisive: the ability to work in small, closed groups under stress for months, without becoming a problem for the others.
How many make it
Here the numbers are merciless and worth facing. The 2021-22 European selection drew more than 22,500 applications. In the end 17 names were presented: five astronaut candidates and twelve members of the European reserve, announced in Paris on 23 November 2022, the first new entrants in thirteen years. Among the twelve in reserve are two Italians, Anthea Comellini and Andrea Patassa.
The picture on the other side of the Atlantic is similar. NASA’s astronaut selection page reports more than 8,000 applications in the latest round, in 2024, and ten people chosen as astronaut candidates, with about two years of training ahead before they can be assigned a flight. In total, since 1959, the American agency has selected 370 astronauts, and 48 are on active duty today. Applying there, however, requires US citizenship.
Selection and flying are two different things
A point that almost always escapes notice: joining the astronaut corps does not mean having a seat on a rocket. After selection comes basic training, then more advanced training with specialisations, and then the wait. A mission assignment arrives when there is a flight available and a role to fill, and it can take years. Reserve members keep their day jobs and are called if an opportunity opens.
The Europeans who have flown so far are few and got there by different routes: some entered the corps as military pilots, some as engineers, some as researchers, and in recent years private missions have been added, where a seat is bought rather than won. That is the one substantial novelty of the past few years: the doors are no longer only institutional.
If the question is “is it worth trying”
The honest answer is that the probability is very low, but the requirements asked for are not wasted: a science degree, a doctorate, work in research, healthcare or engineering, good physical condition, English. These are the same things that build a career in the space sector without ever leaving the ground, where the positions number in the thousands rather than the dozens. The number of satellites in orbit says clearly enough how many people it takes to design them, launch them and keep them alive.