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The women hoping to become Europe's next astronauts

By Louise Eccles
The Times·
13 mins to read

The European Space Agency is recruiting a new generation of non-aggressive, empathetic astronauts. Louise Eccles meets the applicants.

Every morning before work Dr Jackie Bell swims 20 lengths of her local swimming pool without stopping, often cheered on by the lifeguards. Four years ago, at the age of 28, she could barely doggy-paddle without sinking, but staff have watched her master a pretty swift front crawl. The 32-year-old scientist still does not particularly enjoy swimming, but was motivated to learn

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