You expect to find the Guardia Civil on the roads, but you don't expect to see them in space. Relax, you still won't be fined for speeding in orbit because Officer Alberto Martínez will remain earthbound.
Yes, this Lieutenant Colonel, who is in charge of the Unidad Aérea de La Guardia Civil de Huesca, didn’t quite make the selection to become a European Space Agency astronaut, although he looked to be a favourite for the job.
This 45-year-old hopeful was amongst the remaining 200 candidates to become an astronauts and had his fingers crossed to make the jump from piloting a Guardia Civil helicopter to riding a rocket into orbit. However, two other Spanish candidates did make it to final selection: Pablo Álvarez and Sara García.
He explained that when he put his name forward in March 2021 the requirements was to have a C1 level in English, have a scientific-technician qualifications or be a test pilot with at least three years of experience within the required work sector. Age was another factor, but at 45 he was still in the running. Actually, he was talking into it by two friends who already worked for the ESA, so he though, why not?
So what were the odds? Well, 22,000 candidates came forward, 1,344 of them were Spanish. Out of all those aspirants, only six were selected. Yup, there’s a better chance of winning the Christmas Lottery.
The candidates were evaluated on working in a team, leadership technical work in situations of risk, flight experience, amongst other things. Alberto is a rescue chopper pilot with over 4,000 rescue missions under his belt, so he ticked all of those boxes.
When the first phase concluded with 93% of the candidate eliminate and he was left still standing, he began to realistically believe that he could make it — until then, he doubted his chances. Some of the tests were incredibly difficult: 11 hours of mental exhaustion. Did he have a secret weapon? Yes, he did! Jamón Serrano, which for him was like spinach is for Popeye. He never had any problems finding anywhere to sit in the mess hall with candidates from all over Europe looking on…
He got through the second elimination round where there were only 400 of the 22,000 left. The next exam was all on personality and cooperation; i.e.making sure that you wouldn’t be such a pain in the arse that your crew mates would want to expel you though an airlock after a week in space.
He received the news of his elimination via an email, which was disappointing but he wouldn’t have missed the experience for anything. So, mountaineers, excursionists and hikers can rest easy because Alberto is back behind the controls of his helicopter.
(News: Huescar, Aragón)