Two Italians are among the European Space Agency's (ESA) newly recruited astronauts who were officially presented in Paris on Wednesday.
The Bel Paese’s representatives in the ESA’s new class of astronauts are Andrea Patassa, 31, from Spoleto, and Anthea Comellini, 30, from Chiari in the province of Brescia.
The announcement of this new batch of astronauts is an important and historic one, with the ESA having recruited an amputee for the first time; a decision emphasizing the agency’s unprecedented commitment to one day send someone with a physical disability into outer space.
John McFall, a 41-year-old British former Paralympian who lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident when he was 19, called his selection "a real turning point and mark in history."
"ESA has a commitment to send an astronaut with a physical disability into space... This is the first time that a space agency has endeavoured to embark on a project like this, and it sends a really, really strong message to humanity," he said on Wednesday.
The new recruits were among the more than 22,000 applicants who came forward in the hiring push announced in February of last year by Europe's equivalent to NASA.
The pool of applicants included more women than ever, and some 200 people with disabilities applied from all over Europe, but particularly France, Germany, Britain and Italy.
The two-day ESA council which ran from Tuesday to Wednesday in Paris also saw France, Germany and Italy announcing an agreement for a new-generation European space launcher project as part of apparent efforts to better compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX and other rocket programs in the US and China.
The ESA's 22 European members also announced their commitment to "space ambitions" with a budget rise of 17 per cent ― amounting to 16.9 billion euro over the next three years.
It will fund a diverse range of projects, from tackling climate change to exploring Mars.
