So you want to be an astronaut?

British astronaut Tim Peake spent 186 days on the International Space Station, landing back on Earth on June 18, 2016. Now Tim and the European Space Agency have just published The Astronaut Selection Test Book: Do You Have What It Takes?, published by Century. It contains 100 real astronaut tests and training exercises that allow you to see whether you have the right stuff.

Question 1 Tricky Cubed

Spatial awareness skills are enormously important for any astronaut because astronauts often operate equipment they can’t actually see, and are doing so in microgravity, which affects perception (after all there is no fixed up or down in weightlessness). On a spacewalk in particular, you are constantly changing your orientation and perspective as you move around. Selectors are looking for good spatial awareness skills.

Imagine you are facing a cube. This cube can roll to the left, right, forward (towards you) or backwards (away from you). There is a dot on the bottom of the cube.

Question 2 Double Dutch

a) In your mind, roll the cube: forward, left, left, forward, right, backwards, right. Where’s the dot now? b) Imagine the same cub with the dot. Roll the cube: forward, right, right, forward, left, backwards, left. Where’s the dot now? A language aptitude test, match the following eight words for animals with their English equivalents. For a bonus point, name the animals that have been to space, from the following list. Before humans, animals were the first space explorers on early missions.