The new open recruitment to the Roscosmos cosmonaut corps, which started on February 4, allows for the first time to submit an application through the "Gosuslugi" portal. This was announced to TASS by Hero of Russia, Acting Head of the Yu. A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center Oleg Kononenko. The second distinctive feature of the new recruitment is the use of artificial intelligence technologies to analyze candidates' documents. Both innovations are being introduced for the first time in the history of selection to the Russian space corps. According to Kononenko, expanding the ways to apply directly increases the coverage of applicants - the more channels, the wider the range of people who can participate in the competition.
Selection to the CPC cosmonaut corps: how submission works via "Gosuslugi"
Prior to the current recruitment, submitting documents required an in-person or postal application, which effectively limited the range of applicants geographically. The ability to apply through "Gosuslugi" removes this barrier: an applicant from any region of Russia can participate in the selection without traveling to Moscow. Kononenko emphasized that expanding application channels is a conscious policy of the CPC to increase the number of candidates.
Artificial intelligence in the selection of CPC cosmonauts: what exactly does the system analyze
AI is used at the stage of document analysis - for the initial processing of submitted applications. Final decisions are still made by people, Kononenko clarified. The specific methods that will be used were not disclosed in the interview.
Final decisions will be made by people, but certain methods will be applied to analyze the documents that will be submitted for selection
The previous open recruitment to the Roscosmos cosmonaut corps took place in 2017–2018 - then four people were selected from more than 400 candidates. The current recruitment is the first in several years and immediately received two technological innovations at the same time.
