"Space is for everyone": Europe's Space Agency to hire first disabled astronaut

FILE PHOTO: Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA) Josef Aschbacher gestures as he talks during an interview with Reuters in Berlin, Germany, June 24, 2021. REUTERS/Christian Mang

BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Space Agency hopes to hire and launch the world's first physically disabled astronaut and several hundred would-be para-astronauts have already applied for the role, ESA head Josef Aschbacher told Reuters on Friday.

The 22-member space programme has just closed its latest decennial recruitment call for astronauts and received 22,000 applicants, Aschbacher said.