Portuguese Space Agency reveals Astronaut for a Day 2026 finalists
The Portuguese Space Agency released the names of the 20 young people who will feel the weight drain from their bodies aboard an Airbus A310 Zero-G, taking off from the island of Santa Maria, in the Azores.
The qualifying rounds of Astronaut for a Day have come to a close. From a record 762 applications, 20 finalists and 10 reserves now remain. Over the summer, they will undergo medical checks to confirm they are fit to take the parabolic flight.
The flight is set for 20 September. The A310 will climb steeply before arcing over into a parabola, and on each dive, for around 20 seconds, anything not strapped down will float through the cabin. It is in that window, as the aircraft flies one parabola after another, that “weight disappears” and the passengers feel the same absence of gravity that astronauts feel in orbit.
“Astronaut for a Day is perhaps the most direct route between a classroom and space. These young people applied in record numbers, came through months of trials and now have the chance to live out something most can only watch on video. That is what drives us: bringing an entire generation closer to the idea that space is for them too,” says Hugo André Costa, executive director of the Portuguese Space Agency.
The 20 finalists, who came through tests of memory, speed and spatial reasoning, physical trials and a final interview, are 12 girls and 8 boys aged between 14 and 17. They come from ten districts and autonomous regions, from Porto down to Faro and out to the islands, with Lisbon fielding five finalists, followed by Setúbal and Coimbra. Madeira and the Azores are each represented by one student.
Alongside the finalists, whose names can be found on the Astronaut for a Day website, is a group of 10 reserves, on standby should any finalist be unable to take part.
In the days before the flight, the finalists take part in activities and training sessions to prepare them for the experience.
Astronaut for a Day is an original initiative of the Portuguese Space Agency, since taken up in several European countries, and is supported by Ciência Viva, the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Porto and the Faculty of Human Kinetics of the University of Lisbon.
