South Korean astronaut selection process

South Korea is rushing to join the space race. But their astronaut
selection process has been slightly different from that of NASA:

They used a televised "reality TV" show to select 1 astronaut out of
thousands who had submitted applications. The "elimitations" were
appararently serious (real G force tests etc).

While NASA may snear at this process, it might learn a lot in terms of
garneing public support for its space activities.

(this was reported on BBC World television)

Surely though, one needs to be mindful of more than the physical attributes.
Most of the astronauts from elsewhere tend to be either ex military,
engineers or scientists. No problem with joe bloggs flying of course, but if
you are spending a lot of taxpayers money, you want your moneys worth out of
who you send.

Brian

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"John Doe" wrote in message
...
South Korea is rushing to join the space race. But their astronaut
selection process has been slightly different from that of NASA:

They used a televised "reality TV" show to select 1 astronaut out of
thousands who had submitted applications. The "elimitations" were
appararently serious (real G force tests etc).

While NASA may snear at this process, it might learn a lot in terms of
garneing public support for its space activities.

(this was reported on BBC World television)