Future Canadian astronauts need not apply right now
Budget pressure puts public agency’s hiring in question
We will launch another campaign when we need to increase our astronauts.
JEAN- CLAUDE PIEDBOEUF
CANADIAN SPACE AGENCY
OTTAWA — Just two days after Chris Hadfield assumed command of the International Space Station this week, a young student asked him how best to become an astronaut.
In a two- way video link- up with the space station, hosted Friday by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Hadfield told the youngster to focus on learning new things, maintaining good health, and practising good decision- making.
“With those three things … you will succeed no matter what you do in life,” Hadfield said. “Including, maybe have a chance to fly in space.”
Yet even as Hadfield inspires young Canadians to look to the stars, it’s not clear when Canada will again recruit astronauts.
Jean- Claude Piedboeuf, acting director general of space exploration for the Canadian Space Agency, said that although maintaining active astronauts is one of the key aims of the space agency, there are no recruitment campaigns planned. He could not say when the next one would take place.
“We will launch another campaign when we need to increase our astronauts,” Piedboeuf told Postmedia News.
Some experts feel the private sector is the only realistic future launch pad for potential Canadian space travellers.
Since 1983, the space agency has hired 12 astronauts. It has three qualified for space flight.
Like other federal departments, it also faces budget challenges. Government spending estimates for the CSA in 2013- 2014 show a potential increase in funding of just under $ 125.5 million, but the bulk of that is allocated to the RADARSAT Constellation Mission — an unmanned space program that will do satellite surveillance. Meanwhile, the estimates show funds for space exploration will likely be reduced.
Private ventures — and individuals — are already finding ways to get into space without going through traditional government space agencies.
XCOR Aerospace, based in Mojave, Calif., for example, is already offering sub- orbital space flights. These flights break the 100- kilometre altitude that is generally considered the boundary between sovereign airspace and outer space. The flights don’t complete a full orbit of earth — and they also cost $ 95,000.
For those who want to make a living as an astronaut in the private sector, Tampa- based nonprofit Astronauts 4 Hire has a mandate “to increase the competitiveness of commercial astronaut candidates by providing skills training … engaging the space research community, and inspiring the next generation.”
Astronauts 4 Hire will graduate its first class in June, 2013.
“There is a growing infrastructure to support ( private manned space flight),” says Jason Reimuller, chief operating officer for Astronauts 4 Hire.
The barriers to sending people into space are still in the tens of millions of dollars for private companies, and the profit motive hasn’t moved much past the level of government contracts.
Jeremy Laliberte, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Carleton University in Ottawa, says that as the private sector moves into manned space flight, government will still be the first customer.
For example, after retiring its space shuttle fleet in 2011, NASA contracted the Hawthorne, Calif. company Space Exploration Technologies ( SpaceX) to continue development on its Dragon spacecraft.