The Faceless Astronauts

jmott wrote to us with an article from USA Today that talks about the decline of popularity/fame of today's astronauts, compared to the days of Buzz, Shepard and others. It's not surprising that NASA is having fiscal problems when space travel has become not something of marvel, but of everyday import.

Comments

The Wrong Stuff

[hanway]

This is merely my superficial impression, but whenever I watch the NASA feed on TV, I don't get any sense that I'm watching The Right Stuff. Instead, what it looks like are a bunch of corporate middle managers on a packaged junket. Plus, there's too much pomp and circumstance and not enough real progress going on: at every mission launch, NASA has a new sound bite slogan describing the mission in 10 words or less; each "morning" the astronauts are awakened by some special song chosen for some dumb reason. That's the kind of crap that NASA makes available to the public, while at the same time it seems they've been less than forthcoming about difficulties with the ISS.

I dont thing we have forgotten....

[cansecofan22]

I think that NASA and the media has stoped promoting the space program. When we were flooded with info about the Mars lander we were all glued to our TV's but when was the last time you heard anything about the normal space program besides how much some satelite or piece of the ISS (aplha) cost? That is why dont know anyone by name. Americans have an attention span of about 2 minutes. If we are not reminded we will easily forget.

NASA May Mothball Oldest Shuttle

[cloudscout]

WESH in Orlando is reporting that NASA's fiscal problems have them considering their cost-cutting options. One option is to retire Columbia.

Columbia is the oldest shuttle in the fleet and recently underwent a major overhaul to make the cockpit more modern and reduce weight.

NASA isn't pushing anymore

[BlackStar]

I believe there's another factor. NASA isn't really pushing the envelope in the eyes of the public anymore. In the days of Apollo, and going to the moon, that was fantastic, near-sci-fi stuff. Now, it's bang for the buck, and there's no race.

Oddly enough, it looks as though Japan is pushing pretty hard with the lower-cost systems. It appears things like the XPrize may get the industry moving again, but not necessarily in the hands of NASA.

In some ways, Voyager is doing more interesting things than ISS as it's nearing the edge of the Sun's influence. Then it really enters the galaxy as a whole and "sees" new things.

ISS is a great undertaking, and the multinational cooperation is truly outstanding, but it's more of a political project at this point. It's becoming evident that the US people via Congress aren't going to foot the bill for this stuff any more, and that other groups like the Planetary Society, and other countries will have to get more into the area of space exploration to recapture the pioneering spirit. NASA is between a rock and a hard place with money and overhead. A new approach is needed.

Heck, Buzz, Armstrong and the like were kind of daredevils. Apollo 1 killed 3. Challenger killed 7. But now, the safety record of NASA is improving to the point where people mistakenly believe it's safe. Familiarity breeds contempt.

I'm all for space exploration. But NASA can't be the only ones doing it.

This was expected... and even good.

[Bonker]

Orville and Wilbur Right were the first men to get aloft via mechanically-powered flight, but do you remember the name of the captain of the last airplane you flew on?

Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespuci are remembered in the names of cities and even continents all over the western hemisphere, but do you know the name of any given modern ship captain?

There are other examples, but this points to the fact that space travel is not only become routine, but more easily accomplished. It's still expensive, but the risk factor has gone done exponentially, even from the days of 1986, when the Space Shuttle Challenger detonated over the ocean.

Hopefully, in the near future, we'll look back at Neil, Buzz, and Christa with a sense of wonder.
We'll know that they were the pioneers, but that they opened the way for millions of 'nameless' others.

The obvious answer ...

[s20451]

If you want astronauts to be famous ... send famous people into space. When John Glenn went up, the launch received its highest ratings in recent memory. Press coverage would increase, too.

Personally, I'd be perfectly happy to launch any number of irritating teen-band icons into solar orbit, never to return. Say ... this gives me an idea for a Slashdot poll ...