My run for the stars is officially over. Last year I've applied to the @esa #AstronautSelection. We started in ~22,000 very talented applicants. Sadly, today I got the news that I will not be invited to the panel interview 1/7 
With my surprise, in the course of a year I've made it through 4 different selections, in Hamburg, Cologne and Toulouse. Still very happy to have made it all the way into the final ~100 or so candidates. What a ride! 2/7
Reason for rejection are still unclear. Some friends think that geopolitics might have played a role. While true, I think that the ESA selection committee eventually decided that I did not have what they were looking for. Or probably I'm just too big. 3/7
I'm bummed by the news but relieved at the same time. I love my PI academic job and being selected would have been a real problem. With an ongoing @ERC_Research project and a fantastic group of people in my lab having to choose would have been very difficult. 4/7
I am blessed by the very talented people I've met during the selection journey, and all the new friends I've made. I'm humbled to have been part of such a great group. Some of the people that tested with me are still in the race! Best of luck to all! 5/7
I like my life complicated, in the pure latin meaning "cum plicae", with folds. Straight lines through life are boring. I'll keep contributing anyway to space science, and I'm sure that one day I'll get closer to space one way or another. For now it is my work as a scientist. 6/7
If you are curious to find out how I'm contributing, see our recent preprint on stellar metallicity and habitability (arxiv.org/abs/2207.03748) or our review on the limit of life (frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…). More exciting papers to coming soon. #AdAstra 7/7
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
