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Space Tourist Standards
Snuffleupagus writes: "I found an interesting story at cnn.com about NASA's new standards for civilian space travel. It looks like if you have a history of drinking, lying and cheating you won't be going into space anytime soon, no matter how much money you have. Looks like I'll be stuck here on Earth for awhile." The guidelines for future space tourists are on NASA's site.
somehow I don't think the russians will care.
Of course if I say to NASA "I'll give you a billion dollars to send me into space, I have a funny feeling they wouldn't care much either.
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It looks like if you have a history of drinking, lying and cheating you won't be going into space anytime soon, no matter how much money you have.
That kills the potential CEO and politician markets...
I'm much funnier now that I'm a subscriber.
looks like you all can not go.
They should also include the ban on people who cannot figure out the presidential ballots. so, that cuts out flordia as well.
Just like if you are a fucking unrepentant drunk you don't get a new liver.
Unless you are a baseball player.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
No space for you!
Y not the other way around, launch all the garbage up there and make earth a cleaner place :)
NASA's new social engineering department...
It looks like if you have a history of drinking, lying and cheating you won't be going into space anytime soon
Well thank GOD that's a new policy, as those traits fit just about every Mercury-Gemini-Apollo astronaut!
This applies just to the space station, it seems, not to space in general. The thing to remember is that NASA has no real authority over space -- It's just space, it doesn't belong to anyone. They *do* have authority, however, over the facilities that we put into space, so they get to call the shots on the space station.
Technical Writer?
It looks like if you have a history of .. lying .. you won't be going into space anytime soon, no matter how much money you have
Gee, sounds like Billy Gates, Sun, HP, the Govt themselves, Adobe, even slashdot, wont be headed to space. Any others?
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These are the kind of rules that will never change
Come on. By the time you and I get into space (if we aren't too old), these rules will be changed over 100 times. Think about it.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Uh, yeah, we wouldn't want to have anyone who uses "intoxicating beverages to excess" to be on a space station with a bunch of Russians.
Congress may hold funding for NASA until there is an exception made for them.
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Subject line says it all, really.
Commercial spacelines wouldn't be using NASA facilities anyway; they're too expensive.
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Other disqualifying traits: criminal, dishonest, infamous or notoriously disgraceful conduct; intentional false statement or fraud; habitual use of intoxicating beverages to excess; abuse of narcotics, drugs or other controlled substances; and....*drum roll please*.......
membership or sponsorship in organizations which adversely affect the public's confidence in the space station or its partners.
We have been saying for years that NASA is screwy...guess none of us will get to go.
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Evan "Cheap Joke" E.
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
So I'm out. :-) But at least I have the consolation of knowing that Hollywood is out too.
"membership or sponsorship in organizations which adversely affect the public's confidence in the space station or its partners."
Does that mean that a millionaire with a passion for space might be banned for... say... being a member of Greenpeace, because they might think badly of McDonell Douglas for its role as an arms manufacturer?
Maybe I'm being overly alarmist, but the implications that this clause can diqualify anyone who is even loosely related to anyone that does not wholeheartedly support large corporate power is a little disconcerting.
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We should build one huge spaceship and put all our hairdressers, telephone sanitisers, insurance salesman, management consultants, TV producers and public relations executives into it. Send them off to another planet somewhere. I'm sure they'll do just fine building a new civilization.
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.. you can always experience the rush of an piloting a US nuclear submarine during an emergency surfacing...
>looks like if you have a history of drinking, lying and cheating you won't be going into space anytime soon, no matter how much money you have.
Sounds like a slap in the face of George W. Bush. I *knew* NASA was full of liberals and hippies!
Interesting.
Taking this thing to its logical extreme, one could easily imagine civil rights lawsuits regarding space access. I can just imagine the public debate on the Space Tourism Freedom act of 2020.
The restrictions are, of course, meaningless, because the bottom line is that money is the only thing that will get you into space.
This could make for an interesting precedent once we start deciding who can board the "ark" that we'll one day have to build to escape planetary catastrophe.
So, how about membership in the National Rifle Association? Veterans of Foreign Wars? Republican Party? Roman Catholic Church?
If you've ever publicly criticised NASA, you're SOL.
I mean, this single paragraph allows them to deny you for any or no reason at all.
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It looks like if you have a history of drinking, lying and cheating you won't be going into space anytime soon. Unless you're a celebrity or stinkin' rich, of course. And if you're both you might as well be strapped into that cockpot right now. If, to pick a name at random, Michael Jackson wanted to go into orbit, can you imagine NASA saying NO to the publicity? I can't. (although there is something to be said for the possibility of the National Enquirer headline of "NASA Refuses to Launch Well-Known alien Back into Space!" Bad Publicity as a front-page spread is a good thing) --Triv
Doesn't that leave out the entire Russian population?
"It looks like if you have a history of drinking, lying and cheating you won't be going into space anytime soon, no matter how much money you have."
i sure hope they have different rules when it comes time to colonize...otherwise we'll have a hell of a time setting up a gov't on mars..."
dude.
In ancient times, banishment used to be a form of punishment. I'm glad that now that we have the capability of shooting "undeseriables" into space, we've elected not to do that. I can't tell you how safe I feel down here on Earth now.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
if you have a history of drinking, lying and cheating you won't be going into space anytime soon
And I guess that rules out most of America...
One thing that comes to mind is a story by Richard Feynman where he was having a hard time coming up with a new idea to research, so he stopped trying to come up with a new idea. He saw someone throw a frisbee and that it wobbled a certain way. He decided to analyze the factors that influence the way that a frisbee wobbles based on rotation and other variables. This indirectly led to some more significant discoveries by Feynman (which I'm not familiar with since I'm not a physicist).
Remember that space tourist that went up with the Russians? NASA had a shit hemmorage over it, going so far as to label James Cameron a "true patriot" because he was willing to wait for NASA's blessing. That was Stage 1 in NASA's assholism. These restrictions are Stage 2. As much as I love the manned space program, I won't feel too bad when these bureaucratic idiots get slapped. Let's give the money to the Russians, instead.
Guess we won't be seeing "Survivor X: Earth Orbit"
"Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"
However, as with a security clearance, the fact that you smoked a bit of weed and took some mushrooms along the way probably won't hurt. If you have a history of abuse ala Tyson, then perhaps they won't want to include you in a crew that gets to spend weeks in a sardine can together. It just makes good sense.
Sometimes you really just want the wheat
Its only a matter of time before emerging technologies like mass manufactures carbon nanotubes, and full-blow nanotechnology take ALL of us to the starts. Nasa can go eats its shorts.
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It seems that NASA is taking their cues from RIAA, thinking that if they tighten the restrictions then more people will support the program. Someone should tell them that it isn't cartmanland they're running!
It's amazing, free markets ALWAYS increase demand, but all big organizations fight free markets every chance they get...
If you have a history of lying, drinking, and cheating... then you'll probably come up with a way to fool NASA into believing you're a wholesome person!
~ now you know
I wonder how much additional money it would generate if the govt had a "lottery" for space travel instead of a you-pay-you-go type thing. I bet they could work it out to generate alot more money per space tourist that way, while giving us ordinary citizens a chance to go.
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Guess Dubya and his whole family, as well as the rest of the political world won't be taking any trips to the Moon in the near future. That's okay with me. We can just leave here to blow each other up while the rest of us useful people head to the stars.
+1 Insightful, -1 Troll. What can I say, I'm an Insightful Troll.
Here here. I agree completely.
I think we get a little too anxious around here to start ranting about our rights and "the man."
You don't have a God-given right to fly on the ISS, and NASA runs the program.
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Is it that hard to understand that this was probably intended as a catchall for the "Flat Earth Society" and "Lunar Landings were Faked!" crowds out for some "dirt?" Somebody who could be reasonably expected to be a major disruption... and possibly a safety threat if they think that the "vacuum" outside of the ISS is also fake.
The bureaucratically vague wording is troubling, but the alternative (allowing them to arbitrarily reject candidates for unstated reasons) are worse.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
if you have a history of drinking, lying and cheating
I'm gonna stake my claim on the boolean "and". I haven't cheated anyone.
Considering that 99.5% of us are automatically ruled out because we don't have 20 Mil. of disposable income to plunk down for the ultimate joy ride.
Hmmm, "Ultimate Joy Ride" sounds like fodder for a future
At least from what you pick up from "The Right Stuff" drinkin' and driving was an admired ability amongst the eary crews. Not a very good role model tho, not at all.
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They look up your police records and military records, interview you, and some of your (earlier) employers, family, and so on, to try to determine if you are a responsible person. If you aren't, then they won't risk the lives of other astronauts, important space research, huge amounts of money, etc, just to get you into space.
This is nothing but common sence. You shouldn't trust untrustworthy people. I fail to see the logic behind allowing Osama bin Laden on the space shuttle just because he has enough money.
I just scrolled through the comments and I can't beleive I don't see at least one post legitimizing some restrictions.
Folks, this isn't MTVs "Real World in Space!" At least initially, anyone who goes up into a space station is going to part of a pretty small and isolated human community. It's going to be important that members of that community get along. Lying can be big impediment to that. Cheating on a spouse says that you're willing to break pretty some big promises. And while alcohol can provide some great bonding moments (camraderie from shedding some inhibitions, and later, maybe even sharing vomit and hangovers. I know people who've hooked up because of shared vomiting experiences), it also impairs judgement, sometimes makes people much more volatile than they'd normally be, and carries a temptation for abuse that's too strong for many people (especially when in isolated and stressful situations).
There's no guarantee, of course, that honest, sober, and relatively chaste people are going to get along. But it doesn't seem that odd to me that NASA would consider the human dimension of a space community and try to select out traits they think might doom a community to disintegrations.
Libertarianism is rich wolves and poor sheep playing gambler's ruin for dinner.
Or W. Bush, passed out drunk on the floor until he was forty?
Finally a voice of reason. For all those folks that didn't bother to read the standards (which seems to be most of the posters here) here is some clarification.
You cannot ABUSE alcohol or drugs, and you cannot be notoriously untruthful. It says they are going to do a background check, which means they ask people you know about your character, check the official records, etc.
If you don't have a bunch of DUIs, didn't go to the hospital for an overdose, didn't check into any drug treatment programs, and have friends that don't tell NASA all about those wild college parties then you don't have a drug or alcohol problem.
If you weren't in the papers for some atrocious crime then you probably satisfy the requirements for upstanding character.
And since the requirements are open for interpretation my guess is that large contributions of cash will guarantee that NASA doesn't check too carefully.
Well, reading the document itself, it seems that it's really only for the NASA side, I mean, I can't imagine that the Russians would require fluency in english to get into space
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Actualy, if you read the document, you'll see it actualy prohibits people with 'controversial' pasts. No no space for the Lay-master.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
These aren't just NASA standards, they were agreed on with the international partners. See the Washington Post's article: "More than two years in the making, the criteria allow Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan or the European Space Agency to select station visitors."
I'm wondering just how well the international partners are going to agree about the interpretation of those rather subjective standards, though. For instance, considering the stories I've heard about Russians and drinking, over there "alcohol abuse" probably means letting vodka go to waste. 8-)
... and we voted for our representatives who decided that NASA would be in charge of it.
Hot Damn! It's the Soggy Bottom Boys!
and possibly a safety threat if they think that the "vacuum" outside of the ISS is also fake.
That's easy enough to deal with. As soon as you get into orbit, put the guy outside the shuttle and tell him to take his helmet off if he doesn't believe that space is a vacuum. He'll either change his mind, or he'll be space debris. Either way he's not gonna cause any damage.
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
So how can you be successful enough to afford the trip without lying, cheating, or stealing somewhere along the way?
I skimmed over the guidelines for selection in this document and they interestingly look VERY similar to the guidelines for a fed security clearance. (including those about drinking and moral misconduct, which I think are there to prevent blackmail being used to get classified information out of you) ie, if you are working at a military contractor, etc. I wonder if there's any correlation?
This could be a ploy by NASA to try to convince teenagers not to drink, lie or cheat if they want to be an astronaut. I don't know how well it would work, because most youth don't want to be astronauts right now, but it isn't a bad idea.
Just thought I'd submit this possibility for consideration.
Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
I'd buy your BS if you actually followed, read, and understood the links. The three links reference donations of $7.2 Billion. Check you facts before spouting off.
This probably isn't a document saying what qualifications you must meet to get onto the space station.
This is something saying what qualifications you must meet to get on the space shuttle going to and from the space station (which is also NASA property). This means they effectively do control tourists to the entire space station, not just the US modules.
Until, of course, another country starts up in the space tourism industry. . .
I know the natural response among slashdotters is to assume that the Evil US Government wants to ban Enlightened People in order to protect Evil Corporations.
What you have here, though, is pretty standard diplomatese used in most high-profile joint ventures involving less-than-friendly major powers, for "we understand that some of our partner *states* frown on on concepts such as freedom, so in order to avoid a diplomatic row over issues unrelated to our space agenda, we will avoid sending up Taiwanese politicians, Tibetan lamas residing in India, Chinese slave labor opponents, etc." China refers to such people as "criminals who negatively impact confidence in the State and threaten public order," and the wording of this reflects their sentiments.
It will almost certainly also prohibit people closely identified with any political cause, US or non-US, that is highly controversial (abortion, Israel vs. Palestine, etc.). To do otherwise risks having a bunch of activists protesting NASA over non-technical issues, and they have a hard enough time staying out of trouble as it is without asking for it.
"Those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded."
Why should NASA tell other enterprises what people they should send into space? NASA wont be a space tourist company anyway...
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If only governments would disallow such people to breed, life on earth would be so much better.
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