The job offer was brutal. It required being locked up for months in a claustrophobic enclosure with no possibility of escape, with only purified urine from other people to drink and with the obligation to act as a human guinea pig in invasive experiments. The risk of death was high. One in 35 workers died beforehand in the attempt. Despite all this, almost 23,000 applicants with astonishing CVs applied, of whom only 17 passed the inflexible tests to become an astronaut for the European Space Agency (ESA) and join “the greatest adventure in humanity”: a trip to the International Space Station with a view to future manned missions to the Moon. The Spaniard Sara García, 35, is one of the chosen few. On October 28, she began her training with one basic objective: to learn how not to die.

[–] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don't get the 35 workers who died beforehand in attempts?

[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

It’s one out of 35. The Space Shuttle disasters killed 14 crew members. Wikipedia says 610 people have reached orbit (or were intended to). Let’s use that as the denominator (so we aren’t counting Jeff Bezos). One in 35 is 2.8%. So, just the shuttle disasters account for 2.2%. Apollo 1’s crew of 3 also died.

But I think they probably just got the 2.8% number from Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spaceflight-related_accidents_and_incidents

As of December 2023, a total of 676 people have flown into space and 19 of them have died. This sets the current statistical fatality rate at 2.8 percent.

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 1 points 46 minutes ago

Don't forget Soyuz 11, the only people to have died above the Karman line.

[–] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago

ohh, I completely misread everything. I thought that 35 peoples died because they failed the training