It may be the ultimate flight of fancy for star-struck foreign millionaires, but fewer and fewer young Russians have their sights set on becoming cosmonauts.

For the first time in 40 years, too few would-be space travellers have applied to join the Russian programme. An 18-month search ended with only two civilian candidates being accepted for training.

Yelena Serova, 30, and Nikolai Tikhonov, 24, have been supplemented by five air force pilots to make up a group of seven trainees after a trawl of top science universities failed to produce a single recruit.

A team from the state-owned Energia corporation, which designs and builds spacecraft, visited several technical universities in Moscow to encourage applications this year. Only five of twenty students who expressed interest went on to take medical tests, and none passed.

During Soviet times thousands would compete for the 20 training places and a chance to follow the trail blazed by Yuri Gagarin, who became the first person in space in 1961. Fewer than half of accepted candidates got through the training.

Cosmonauts were heroic figures in the Soviet Union, given special privileges and rock-star treatment. The latest cosmonaut recruitment drive, only the sixteenth since 1966, attracted a few dozen applicants. Young Russians are dazzled more by career prospects on Earth than by the glamour of reaching for the stars.

Sergei Shamsutdinov, the editor of Cosmonaut News, said: “The Soviet Union achieved so many firsts in space that it was a rare and privileged profession. Now it is seen as just another job. The present generation is less romantic and more pragmatic about their career choices. Cosmonauts are paid very little in comparison with bankers or businessmen and, of course, people want to earn good money.”

Cosmonauts earn less than £420 a month and many believe that their public status has been devalued by Russia’s decision to permit “space tourists” to hitch a ride on a rocket for a $20 million (£10.5 million) fee. Anousheh Ansari, Russia’s fourth paying customer, became the first female space tourist in September.

Mrs Serova was recruited from within Energia, where she is an engineer at the mission control centre. Her husband, Mark, was accepted on to the cosmonaut training programme in 2003.

Mr Tikhonov, a graduate of the Moscow Aviation Institute, passed his medical tests last month to begin the two-year training programme at the Gagarin centre in Star City.

Few undergraduates seem eager to follow him. David Tarkhanyan, a second-year student at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, said: “I think the gap is too wide between what such a job offers and what a private company offers. I don’t think there are too many students left who would be romantic enough to abandon material gain for space.”

The Right Stuff

The only restriction on age is that the candidate must be over 18. The average age of a Nasa astronaut is 34

Source: Nasa

Times Recommends

• It’s only Brits who don’t appreciate me, says Blair
• Party’s over for Greek graspers
• White House tightens security for Xmas marathon