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NASA Wants "People People" for Astronaut Core
Hugh Pickens writes "Astronauts are the ultimate Type A personalities but that can backfire during a long stay in space so NASA is taking applications for a new crop of astronauts whose main duties are to conduct experiments, keep the station running and stay in their crewmates' good graces. For that, NASA needs an affable, tolerant guy or gal who is more researcher than jet jockey. 'You need to be more of a people person' to serve on the station, says astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who has flown on the space shuttle and commanded the station. 'You can't just be steely-eyed, no matter how competent.' Coping skills are crucial on a station mission, which lasts three to six months, compared with 11 to 15 days for a shuttle mission. 'Anybody can get along with anybody for a couple of weeks,' says psychiatry professor Nick Kanas who studies astronaut behavior. After a month or two, 'being with somebody for that long starts to wear on you. The jokes get stale. You have to learn new ways of interacting.'"
Do we get to go underground and kickstart the core?
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
Slashdot needs literate editors!
So basically they're looking for people that would help astronauts remain sane and cool during long stays in space. Have they considered prostitutes?
You just got troll'd!
nuff said.
The Simpsons did it first!
... and they've decided Slashdot is the place to look for them.
Note to moderators: the above is "+5 Funny"
Wow, NASA think "in advance", but let's hope they will these people in their lifetimes ...
Billions and billions!
I can't help but think of the opening chapter of Stranger in a Strange Land where they try to find the most compatible crew possible. Good luck with that guys.
Hint: Foot-kilograms is not a unit of measure for crew compatibility.
Virginia is for lovers. EVE is for griefers.
"The best thing to do is just to freeze him. Stop the goddam disease. He can get a doctor to look at him when we get back home."
"Right."
"Whenever he says anything you say `right,' Brett, you know that?"
"Right."
"Parker, what do you think? Your staff just follows you around and says `right,' Just like a regular parrot."
"Yeah, shape up. What are you, some kind of parrot?"
"Right."
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Are they serving complimentary Tang? If so, sign me up.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. indymedia
It shocks me to the corps!
Engineering is the art of compromise.
If it nets me a trip to space, I'll be whatever personality they want me to be!
Esprit de Core?
Give me a military-style space program filled with men and women from the military, thankyouverymuch. (It'd be an added bonus if they can keep their dicks in their pants and their legs closed.) We can leave the soft shit to the commercial (including the travel industry) sector.
:P)
Remember the space slut incident? I rest my case. (Yeah, I know, she was military - but she was "people person", so my point stands.
"The fight for freedom has only just begun." - Geert Wilders
.
Depeche Mode
People Are People
Some Great Reward
People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
So we're different colours and we're different creeds
And different people have different needs
It's obvious you hate me though I've done nothing wrong
I've never even met you so what could I have done
I can't understand what makes a man
Hate another man help me understand
People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
Help me understand
Help me understand
Now you're punching and you're kicking and you're shouting at me
And I'm relying on your common decency
So far it hasn't surfaced but I'm sure it exists
It just takes a while to travel from your head to your fist (head to your fists)
I can't understand what makes a man
Hate another man, help me understand
People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
I can't understand what makes a man
Hate another man, help me understand
I can't understand what makes a man
Hate another man, help me understand
I can't understand what makes a man
Hate another man, help me understand
(People are people)
I can't understand what makes a man
(Why should it be?)
Hate another man, help me understand
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Excellent!
By the taping of my glasses, something geeky this way passes
Why forget the space station? I would pay a lot for 0G sex!
(\__/) This is Lapinator
(='.'=) copy it in your sig
(")_(") so it can take over the world
From what I read of the article, this is about enforcing societal norms on employees. And that usually entails firing a lot of autistic people.
First it was the IT industry, and now apparently the space industry is getting in on the act. Tired of watching otherwise competent and productive employees fail to give out and respond to conforming body language, managers decide that we need to bring in some people who make eye contact when they speak and understand the latest fashions. That is far more important than technical expertise, after all.
Most of you probably think its fine, but a societies treatment of 'freaks' and 'wierdos' is a good indication of how it will be treating 'normal' people further down the line.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
They should look into Genuine People Personalitiies.
"This message brought to you by LOUD YELLING, the future of nationwide wireless communication."
Normal is relative.
I think those who make eye contact when they speak, have conforming body language, and understand the latest fashions are freaks.
Problem with what you said though is (afaik) that autistic people have just as much problem dealing with other autistic people as they would with normal people, if not more.
I don't think either straw man would be appropriate for a long term space stay though.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
where there heck did this come from?
After a thorough study, NASA has concluded that the subterranean hominid species called the 'Hardcore Gamer' is the ideally suited for deployment in space for elongated periods of time.
This species has proven to subsist on ridiculously low amounts of food, water, social interaction, exercise and sexual intercourse, while maintaining excellent screen monitoring reflexes and quick reaction/adaptability to changes on screen. The species is known to inhabit basements and hence it is very accustomed to dark and cramped places, they also have the amazing ability to stay in one place for days without getting restless. After a few tests we have concluded that the 'Hardcore Gamer' is averse to sunlight, complex social situations (especially those that involve the female species) and physical exercise.
All conditions favorable to this species is present on our spaceships with none of the negatives.
(p.s. We think the best way to recruit them would be to make some kind of a free massive online space simulation game).
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
Please remember, I am only joking....
.
1. We are pretty tolorating people.
2. We live WAY out in the country, with as little human interaction (other than each other) as we can get away with.
3. We have more than 2 months worth of jokes....
4. They would get free "pron"...
You must be fun at parties!
Fleur de Sel
The US already has a largish pool of individuals already self selected, tested, screened, and proven for many of the traits that NASA seem to want here. A large number of them even have college degrees. (The only drawback being - the pool 100% male.)
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Yeah, you need fighter pilots to do the piloting part on the Shuttle and Orion and any future landing, but to actually operate the gear and the experiments on the Station, on a Moon or Mars base, or cruising to and from Mars: Your best bet is to recruit from the US Submarine Service.
Being able to coexist peacefully without irritating your coworkers is important in an environment that locks a few people up together for months at a time. It's unfortunate that many autistics cannot do that well, but it's a fact.
If an autistic person cannot get on with a non-autistic person, why do you assume it is the fault of the autistic person? Perhaps the normal person is just too damn intolerant.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
I think I can see why this has upset you so much:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=415652&cid=22012604
Don't worry - I think the space industry will still have room for people whose main skill isn't other people.
Bow chica chica bow bow chica. I know you were thinking it.
Obligatory blog plug: http://www.caseybanner.ca/
Humans evolved society and social behavior for a reason and most can deal with it (to various degrees). If someone is blind you don't make them a sniper, you don't create a touch based vision (that's inferior) just for him.
It's sher arrogance to assume the rest of society needs to bend backwards for you at their detriment simply because you can't do it for them.
SOMEONE's not a people person... Seriously. Stop being so pessimistic. Have you considered that NASA is planning multi-year trips to the moon, mars, and/or asteroids? And that... (gasp) they might actually need people to get along for years on end. Which, yes, might mean no autistic astronauts. Also no astronauts who are genetically obese or even disabled - the moon buggy isn't handicap accessible.
Now, if they try to say "only people people on the ground too" then you can whine. But there are some people you just can't lock up together in tiny tin room and send to mars.
I can't believe no one has yet nominated Homer Jay Simpson and/or Barney Gumball yet... That episode was the birthplace of 'I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords' (OK that might not have been the exact original phrase, but I'm memed out here...)
If NASA is looking for "people" people to be astronauts, it's probably more just a sign that the real cutting-edge stuff, for which you do need wildly talented and somewhat abnormal folks, is about over. If machines and the ground crew are now doing all the real hairy work, and the important thing about the people on orbit is just that they don't embarass the agency in front of the TV cameras, well then, sure, being a well-adjusted normform is clearly the way to go.
There's a somewhat apt quote from Fleet Admiral Ernest King, who was Chief of Naval Operations during the Second World War, a famously crabby non "people" person (described by FDR as "a man who shaves with a blowtorch"), to the effect that in wartime they send for the sons of bitches, because only they can get the job done. Point being, if NASA is looking for more "people" skills over aerospatial genius or nerves of brass, then they're probably no longer working on the true frontier.
Yes, I know you don't want a crew that will kill each other because they've the social skills of retarded bonobos. But if you have a crew that has time and energy to spare for social interactions beyond hand me that fucking wrench really quick and O2 is nominal again thank Christ then your missions aren't at the very leading edge.
WIll they serve Pizza Pizza or Panda Panda on the ISS? They can play Puyo Puyo in their off hours. They can train the people people at the new training center in Walla Walla. Maybe they'll see Jar Jar. OK, I'll stop.
Well, submariners may be good for transit, and fighter jocks for landing, but once you actually get on the surface of the Moon or Mars, it's the astrogeologists' turn. A few good field geologists could turn any landing site into a scientific bonanza...
I'm not autistic (more of a frustrated intellectual), but I don't make eye contact, couldn't care less about clothes (they serve a function, nothing more), and I'm not much of a conversationist when I'm around the so called "normal" people. If someone wants to contribute to a conversation in a meaningful, intellectual manner, even if I disagree with them, I'm far less likely to want to strangle them (though I still might :P). I think picking crews of compatible people is far more important than picking crews of "people people".
On another note, wasn't there a Simpson's episode about sending the everyman into space? How much of a people person was the inanimate carbon rod?
Admit it. You post strawman arguments as AC so you get modded Insightful for refuting them, rather than Troll
Anyone have any idea how these kind of social interaction problems are being dealt with at NASA?
From several articles (granted, somewhat mainstream), it doesn't seem like there is much publicly-available research on human psychological reactions to sexual issues in long-term spaceflight. I would be surprised if there isn't a more robust body of serious literature in sociology & human behavior journals, and inside NASA, ESA and others.
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These links are more about alleged events, and short-term issues (mechanical & biological). I remember reading the first when Lisa Nowak was news:
"Do Astronauts Have Sex? In space, no one can hear you moan." - article from Slate.com "Slate's The Explainer thanks Bob Jacobs of NASA and Laura Woodmansee, author of 'Sex in Space.'"
Other Links:
Outer-space sex carries complications
Article about book 'Sex in Space'
ISS On-Orbit Pregnancy Test procedures
---
Off-topic - I recommend the column "The Explainer" on Slate.com. Answers to questions that relate to current news (often with a basic or off-beat slant)
Example footer from the space sex article with related links to other Slate articles:
"Felix Gillette explained how space shuttles fly home. Daniel Engber revealed what exactly space tourists do. Dan Kois also wondered where the atmosphere ends and space begins. Chris Suellentrop argued that astronauts shouldn't be considered heroes. Gregg Easterbrook called the space program a big ol' waste of money. After the Columbia disaster in 2003, David Owen pointed out it's a waste of life, too."
"Humans evolved society and social behavior for a reason and most can deal with it (to various degrees). If someone is blind you don't make them a sniper, you don't create a touch based vision (that's inferior) just for him."
The big difference though is the Asperger/HFA (High functioning autistic) is not blind and is perfectly capable, it's the ancient barbaric social status prejudice that gets in the way. The autist is not at fault for the the 'normal' (read: barbaric) ease at which one likes or dislikes another.
This is not to say they should make no effort to learn and socialize but many autistic types have been thoroughly abused. Society is abusive and primitive, we would see thing's liek Virginia tech if people were really nice, the truth is they aren't.
People are in control, their's no excuse for prejudice.
"It's sher arrogance to assume the rest of society needs to bend backwards for you at their detriment simply because you can't do it for them."
This is nonsense, "society bending backward", all one is asking is to lay off the prejudice and petty tribalistic social status games. It seems that's too hard for a knuck dragging normie.
They are concerned with the main group of astronauts, that is, the core of the corps. The periphery of the corps (those who are astronauts but won't be on the long mission) can be type A, "I-win-at-any-cost" types, but the core of the corps cannot be that way, lest a personality conflict results in one or more of the core of the corps returning to Earth as a corpse.
Isn't that a perfect example of reverse prejudice?
"This is nonsense, "society bending backward", all one is asking is to lay off the prejudice and petty tribalistic social status games. It seems that's too hard for a knuck dragging normie."
No, I am not an English major. My posts are subject to typos and incorrect grammar. Do not expect perfection.
[Big Text!!!~omgfrenchfries1] Zero-G Fantasy Adventure: the Ultimate Bondage Scenario! *woman moans loudly in the background* [Image of two people fucking inside an anchored sleeping bag]
Long and inefficient search.
At the taxpayers expense, of course.
.signature: Command not found
Which says to me that you didn't read any of it. The incompatibility problems discussed in the article are well known (at least among people who follow the space program) - and have nothing to do with with 'conforming' or 'fashions' or 'societal norms'.
Because when I hear someone say they are a "People Person" I immediately think "Donner Party".