After a selection process that put several skills to the test, 30 young Portuguese students will have the opportunity to make a parabolic flight. For the first time there are candidates from the Azores, Madeira, Beja and Faro.
After four months of elimination rounds, the 30 finalists of the 2nd edition of Zero-G Portugal – Astronauta for a Day were selected. The initiative, promoted by the Portuguese Space Agency, will once again take primary and secondary school students on a parabolic flight aboard the Airbus A310, from the French company Novespace. The flight, departing on September 3, from Air Base No. 11, in Beja, will allow the crew to experience the zero gravity sensation that astronauts feel in Space.
Of the 30 selected participants, 20 are boys and 10 are girls. As for the origin of the finalists, this year’s edition of the initiative registered a greater geographic representation: for the first time, there are finalists coming from the Autonomous Regions of the Azores (3 from Terceira island and 2 from the island of Santa Maria ) and from Madeira, from Faro and Beja, but also Lisbon, Santarém, Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Leiria, Braga, Porto and Setúbal.
In terms of distribution by years of schooling, 27 finalists are attending Secondary Education (14 are in the 10th grade; 13, in the 11th grade) and 3 are students in the 3rd cycle of Basic Education (two in the 9th grade , one from the 8th grade).
The Azores Mission Structure for Space participated in the dissemination of this initiative among the Azorean educational community, with the Portuguese Space Agency.
Photo: Portuguese Space Agency
