• Question: Will people go to space on any new missions again and do you think I might have a chance to get to go to space????

    Asked by Dylan Lynch to Aisling, Colin, Laurence, Ned on 9 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Ned Dwyer

      Ned Dwyer answered on 9 Mar 2016:


      Hi Dylan prople sre now going to space regularly. There are always 3 people on the International Space Station and when they send spacecraft there a bigger team goes there for short periods of time. Indeed you could have the opportunity to go to space. Some engineering skills would be a good start.

    • Photo: Aisling Shannon

      Aisling Shannon answered on 10 Mar 2016:


      Hi Dylan, I think you definitely have a chance. As technology improves, taking people to space will become easier – and cheaper, so trips to space will be more common. At the moment there are a few companies looking at tourist space travel and trying to design and build the craft that would do it. How amazing would that be, to be an engineer working on that?! As for astronauts, it really is just a very select few that get chosen for training – with no guarantee that they will ever go to space. But maybe in 20 or 30 years, going on a space flight will be the same price as flying to Australia!

    • Photo: Colin Shirran

      Colin Shirran answered on 11 Mar 2016:


      People are always in space on the ISS. Hopefully we will start looking at going back to the moon or on towards Mars in the near future too. With all the space tourism companies springing up and SpaceX (alongside others including Airbus DS) working on reusable rockets, he cost of going to space may reduce dramatically in the coming years, and going to space might be as easy as getting a ticket for a flight to America. Although lets hope ryanair holds off for a while!

      If you have an interest in reading up on the life of an astronaut being chosen in modern times, have a look at Chris Hadfeilds book “An astronauts guide to life on earth”.

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