Well, it’s time for me to eat my hat. They chose a British guy after all!

From: The Telegraph

Timothy Peake, an Apache helicopter test pilot, is to become Britain’s first official spaceman after being accepted into the European Space Agency’s Astronaut Corps.

Briton Major Timothy Peake who was named by the European Space Agency (ESA) today as one of its six new astronauts

Major Peake, who served for 18 years in the British Army including terms in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Afghanistan, beat more than 8,000 other hopefuls to be selected along with five other colleagues from across Europe.

The appointment of the 37-year-old, who now lives in Salisbury, marks a change in British government policy as the cost of putting a man into space – about £18 million – has in the past been considered too expensive.

So far only those who have secured private funding or US citizenship have made it into orbit.

Major Peake, who is married with a four month-old-baby, said it was a “great privilege” and hoped to be the first Britain on the Moon.

“One of my great dreams is to take part in a Lunar Mission and now that is not at all an impossible dream,” he said.

Major Peake, the son of a journalist, was picked alongside two Italians Samantha, Cristoforett and Luca Parmitano, Alexander Gerst, a German, Dane Andreas Mogensen and Frenchman Thomas Pesquet.

They will now have to move to Cologne, Germany, in September where they will start a three-and-a-half year training programme before being allowed into space.

One of their first tasks will be to learn Russian as the chances are their first flight will be on a Russian rocket.

“On the face of it sitting on top of a rocket has nothing in common with flying a helicopter,” said Major Peake, who only retired from the army 20 days ago.

“But both do involve constant risk assessment and exploring new boundaries.”

The first Briton in space was Sheffield-born chemist Helen Sharman. She had to secure private funding to fly to the Mir space station on a Russian Soyuz craft in 1991.

Three British-born astronauts have flown into space under an American flag: Michael Foale, Piers Sellers and Nicholas Patrick.

Jean Jacques Dordain, director-general of Esa said he hoped it will now encourage the British government to contribute to human flight.

“With such a good guy, how can they not contribute?” he said.

But Lord Drayson, the Science Minister, later said there would be no change in funding. “Having an official British astronaut will raise the profile of the British science industry.”

Britain is currently the fourth largest contributor to ESA, spending more than £200m a year, but the money goes into unmanned space missions.

Space Station Dana event details

Events are free and open to anyone over 18. Tickets can be booked by
telephone or online (www.danacentre.org.uk / 0207 942 4040)

The Space Station Dana will explore the selection process for budding
astronauts through expert talks and a series of games and will be held
on 13 November from 19.00-21.00

Visitors will be able to pose questions to experts, including space
veteran Jean-Francois Clervoy and participate in simulated astronaut
selection games.

Visitors to the Science Museum’s Dana Centre can discover if they have what
it takes to become an astronaut during a night of space selection on Thursday
13 November (19.00-21.00). Space Station Dana will give visitors the
opportunity to participate in a unique recruitment game for potential
astronauts and experience first-hand what the demanding selection procedure
entails.

Astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy, a space veteran with 675 hours experience in
space will be touching down to discuss the ESA’s latest intake of recruits to
its European Astronaut Corps, the selection process and answer questions from
the audience. In addition visitors will have the chance to hear from experts
in space psychology and physiology, and test their own performance under
pressure in a series of astronaut simulation tests.

The venue will be divided up into three sections, with expert talks and
recruitment games taking place in each location. Visitors will be able to
undergo collaborative skill tests, assess their logic under strain and answer
questions on their space knowledge.

The Science Museum’s Dana Centre

The Science Museum’s Dana Centre is an adults-only café/bar that hosts
performances, debates, comedy and interactive events all based around
contemporary science. The Dana Centre takes a no-holds barred look at the
biggest issues in science today, from technology to testicles and beatboxing
to brain waves.

Complete with a wired café-bar, whatever the topic, the Dana Centre strives
to deliver fresh, intellectually and emotionally challenging events in its
striking space. The Centre uses innovative techniques to get audiences
talking – from theatre sketches to electronic voting on the issue of the day,
pub quiz challenges and digital art.

State-of-the-art digital facilities link the Centre and its events with
venues all over the UK, those on the Internet and everyone with a mobile.
Online discussion boards allow those unable to attend in person to have their
say on issues that matter to them.

Visit http://www.danacentre.org.uk and become part of Dana’s wider community
discussing the hottest topics in science today.

Interesting…. I have not received any rejection email yet about the September-December round. Looks like they are doing it in batches. In the June round, I got the invitation hours after the deadline. Hence I would have expected it to be the same here. Looks like they are now comparing the output from the automated dice-rolling bullshit to the letters of recommendation/background of the candidates. As soon as I get my ‘thanks, but no thanks’ letter, I will let you know.