It surprises me how different is the astronaut profile between the NASA and the ESA. Herein Europe they don't look for pilots at all, they mostly look for scientist that have published a lot and that have good public relationship skills (90% of european astronaut's work seems to be PR, they don't get much spacetime) It was a disapointment when I learned that, I never had a chance anyway as my courriculum is really really far from being as good as these!. But being a pilot I hoped I had a chance some how. Personally, I think that it makes more sense to have scientists on board, the times when there was a pilot skill needed are long gone.