Physical training plays a much bigger role, including tests that are no longer required for US astronauts. But where American trainees enjoy the comfortable, air-conditioned facilities of humid Houston, their Russian counterparts have to endure Star City near Moscow, a crumbling military legacy of the former Soviet Union.At Star City, little has changed in 40 years. Anyone averse to lectures should avoid applying, since new recruits typically have to study about 230 subjects and survive some 1,600 hours of tuition.Each of the partners in the International Space Station programme follows similar guidelines when training its astronauts. Many astronauts who have passed their 50th birthday have now flown in space, including the 77-year-old John Glenn, who spent nine days orbiting the Earth.Defeating the hordes of other applicants in the competition is only the first step along a rocky, sometimes tedious, road Basic training lasts for at least a year. Although today’s astronauts no longer have to be super-fit pilots, no one can experience the weightlessness of space without a rigorous medical For those that pass, age is not a barrier. Everyone who wants to join the ranks of Nasa’s finest must have an advanced degree in engineering, science or mathematics, along with considerable experience in a space-related occupation.
Another basic requirement is physical and psychological fitness. The actual programme is daunting – a physical and mental challenge to deter all but the toughest aspirants

The first obstacle is the candidate selection process.

Unless you happen to be a multi-millionaire tourist, there is likely to be competition from hundreds of others eager to experience the final frontier. Since the commander of the spacecraft is invariably a military pilot who has flown thousands of hours, most would-be astronauts have to settle for a window with a view. “But it was bombed to smithereens by the Allies in World War Two.”pandora independent.co.uk. Anyone watching Channel 4’s Space Cadets “reality show” may be fooled into believing that training for a space mission is effortless But aspiring astronauts should beware. “The new market in Dresden was a beautiful place, all right,” I’m told. “He did, however, chuff his way through an entire pack of fags between courses,” I’m told.* The German ambassador, Thomas Matussek, made headlines yesterday for a speech in which he accused Britain of “still failing” to teach its children a satisfactory number of foreign languages.Matussek, who leaves office early next year, seems intent on going out with a bang.

Yesterday, one of his official Christmas cards fluttered onto Pandora’s doormat, depicting a glorious winter scene by Canaletto.Splendidly, the painting chosen by His Excellency for the card is “A view of the Dresden Frauenkirche on the New Market seen from the Judenhof”.This, reckons the card’s original recipient, looks like another sideswipe by Matussek at his host nation. “Once upon a time, Kennedy would have seen off at least three bottles of claret in that time. But he was on Diet Cokes, instead.”It isn’t all good news on the health front, though. Now I hear that “chatshow” Charlie is off the booze this Christmas party season.The other night, he was at Gran Paradiso restaurant in Victoria with the former Liberal leader, (Lord) David Steel.”They’re old chums, and took more than three hours over dinner,” reports a friend of Steel.

“It’s usually set on gradient seven, which is for hardcore hill-runners only; she must be extremely fit.”As to Madge’s preferred soundtrack: “She always switches the CD player onto her own music,” I’m told.”Last time I saw her, she’d obviously had enough of Confessions on a Dance Floor, so we all had no choice but to work out to Music.” Splendid!* Charles Kennedy is clearly taking the threat to his leadership of the Liberal Democrats with admirable seriousness.First, he read the riot act to disloyal MPs; then he employed a new speech writer, the improbably-named Mickey Finn. A month after it emerged that John Hutton, David Blunkett’s successor as Work and Pensions Secretary, had bought a house next to the radical cleric’s, I hear of another minister in the Hamza neighbourhood.
The Environment Minister, Ben Bradshaw and his boyfriend Neal Dalgleish, who works for Newsnight, have lived in the Shepherd’s Bush street for longer than Mr Hutton’s family.However, their proximity to the Hamza household only came to light at the weekend, when neighbours were invited to a Christmas drinks party.”John Hutton was there with his wife, Heather,” reports one. “We never realised they lived so close, but Hutton was cracking jokes about life on ‘old hookie’s’ street.”He was charming, and particularly admired Ben and Neal’s front garden, which they’ve just had redone with smart curved paving stones.”Bradshaw wouldn’t comment on his controversial neighbour.Meanwhile Hamza, above, is now at Belmarsh prison, awaiting trial for incitement to murder and religious hatred.* Sad to report the imminent demise of that most enduring double act of modern TV: Rick Stein and his Jack Russell, Chalky.Stein’s pooch has been at his side for all of its 16 years, but was unable to appear in his last series, French Odyssey, for health reasons.Now I learn that, in what is likely to be his swansong, Chalky will make two final appearances on our screens before woofing off into doggy retirement.”Chalky’s coming back for my Christmas special,” said Stein at the opening of Brown’s Hotel on Monday.”After that, we’ve arranged one last hurrah in a show I’ve made about Betjeman’s Cornwall.”It’ll be broadcast by the BBC in the summer to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth.”He lived in Rock, across the estuary from Padstow, and I’ve interviewed a lot of locals who he knew.”Sadly, Stein, pictured with Chalky, never met his subject: “Parkinson’s got him before he could visit my restaurant.”* Being a longstanding Madonna fan, Pandora has often wondered what it might be like to watch the enduring Queen of Pop working on her tightly honed torso.Imagine my disappointment, then, to learn that she has taken to using the gym at Home House, a private club which last year “blackballed” me from membership.”I have seen her using the running machine an awful lot recently,” reports one (somewhat nosy) fellow member. Ex-champ Tom Curren has distributed Bibles on the beach (and, what’s more perplexing, he signed them).For Bethany, surfing is a form of prayer, a manifestation of faith.