270 Irish would-be astronauts apply to join European space programme

Aeronautical engineer Norah Patten: 'It is a case of when and not if there will be an Irish astronaut.'

It is now only a matter of time before an Irish man or woman boldly goes where none has gone before, with hundreds of would-be astronauts applying for the European Space Agency's (ESA) astronaut selection programme.

The ESA announced that 22,000 people across the EU had applied for the positions of astronaut and astronaut with a physical disability, 11 years after the last process.