Japan鈥檚 space agency began recruiting astronauts for the first time in nearly a decade on Tuesday amid growing interest in the space programme spurred by a Japanese astronaut鈥檚 recent journey on the space shuttle Endeavour.
Japan鈥檚 space programme was in tatters in the late 1990s after a series of mishaps, but it sent its first lunar probe into orbit in 2007 in hopes of putting the programme back on track.
The first piece of a new Japanese laboratory was also installed on the International Space Station in March, paving the way for more Japanese astronauts to work in space.
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鈥淲e hope to have more applicants this time than we did last time,鈥� said Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) official Takahiro Abe. 鈥淛apanese will have opportunities to work for long periods at the International Space Station.鈥�
Japan鈥檚 space agency now has eight astronauts, with massive media coverage given to each when they travel to space. Takao Doi, part of the Endeavour鈥檚 crew last month, chatted with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda about Japanese space food.
Swimming test
The space agency will choose up to three applicants in a four-part screening process that includes medical checks, written exams, interviews and a swimming test.
Successful candidates will undergo two years of training with NASA, study English and Russian conversation and learn how to operate systems for the space station.
Three out of 864 applicants were chosen when the space agency last recruited astronauts in 1999.
Japan鈥檚 space programme hit a low point in the late 1990s after two unsuccessful launches of the H-2 rocket. Disaster followed in 2003 when it had to destroy an H-2A rocket carrying two spy satellites minutes after launch as the rocket veered off course.
