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NASA Selects 8 New Astronaut Trainees, Including 4 Women
illiteratehack writes "NASA has selected a 39-year-old chief technology officer to become a trainee astronaut. Josh Cassada is the current chief technology officer and co-founder of Quantum Opus, a firm that specialises in photonics. Cassada is one of eight individuals selected by NASA from 6,100 applicants for astronaut training, though what their future mission may be has yet to be revealed."
Of the astronaut trainees selected, four of them are women — a new record.
I think I've seen this Archer episode.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
I would think it would be easier to train PhDs to be astronauts than Military folks to be PhDs.
I get it that NASA started out testing planes, but there is nothing for the astronaut to fly anymore. Even the shuttle should have been automated.
Dragon, I would guess.
i though they didn't need to cook their food up there
12 comments, 0 sexist joke?! What happened to /. :-)
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
What space ship will they be flying in?
I've heard that NASA was making a technology transfer deal with Edward Makuka Nkoloso.
Ezekiel 23:20
What space ship will they be flying in?
Soyuz ?Otherwise these guys will be dead by the time the next american capsule/spaceship is ready to go.
Shouldn't we be saying "cosmonauts"?
How much did that CTO pay for his spot? He was really that much better than 6,000 other people?
Ignore me.
Actually, this is a good thing. Women in general weigh less than men, which, when it comes to payload calculations, is something you do care about; neurologically speaking, they are as capable as men. The only downsides are the traditional ones -> should an oddball scenario arise where having that much more extra upper body strength is somehow the difference between life and death (the space station is pushed out of orbit, and you need to realign the Space Shuttle engines feeds with a giant crowbar, or face a fiery re-entry), and gender wars (you absolutely can't have one on a space shuttle / space station...you have a job to do, any strife / problems that arise must be resolved quickly and decisively). I do recall that NASA does not have a spotless track record here: Lisa Nowak. On the plus side, they do tend to eat less than men, and probably consume less air, so if the Space Shuttle somehow is dislodged with a meteor while simultaneously taking out the cafeteria / life support / Soyuz capsule, you actually stand a fair chance of surviving long enough for a new one to arrive.
I am John Hurt.
NASA is a government agency. This guarantees that any candidate selection process is loaded with politically correct assumptions and discriminators.
I am recruiting astronauts for my own agency, to fly my own manned spacecraft fleet - which I am proud to say is just as large as NASAs.
four are Navy test pilots
Well, it takes a lot of flight training to sit strapped in a chair while the Russians drive.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
The ridiculous programs the trainees go through in that show make for good television, but it isn't even remotely based in reality.
Fuck Political Correctness. If they're qualified, they're qualified but the Low Earth Orbit stuff, while risky, isn't as risky as going to the Moon or beyond. If Space is going to be a frontier for mankind then we have to be willing to take risks, invest in programs or industries that will get us there and go.
NASA is full of bloat and horsecrap. Shit, take $5 out of the NSA budget and put it into a one shot trip to Mars. There's already volunteers and I'm sure Musk and SpaceX can supply cargo ships once they're on the planet. If they don't make it, we'll send another crew. That's what happened to explorers since time began, either they made it or they didn't but they did keep on trying if they failed. If NASA fails, it's a shitstorm and years of congressional testimony with self-appointed protectors of the public good making political points. Get rid of NASA and co-opt the JPL stuff and other good science out to the NSF.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
This is the age of tokenism and they clearly set out to pick 4 women. A simple statistical analysis of their candidate pool will tell you it's highly unlikely that half of the _best_ candidates would be women.
Eight and a half months to and from Mars on a minimum energy ellipse, plus a number of additional months to line up the return launch window, and I betcha those male astronauts would be glad for the "tokenism" as you put it. Just sayin'...
Space-X is planning a manned flight in 2015. Space-X will have their own private astronauts. They'll probably be ex-NASA astronauts initially, test-pilot types. Once Space-X has flight crew, that will probably be the place to go.
NASA still has 49 active astronauts, most of whom (but not all) have been in space. They don't have much to do. There are lot of recent astronaut layoffs and quits. NASA had over 80 astronauts at peak. That's not where you go if you want to go into space. It's surprising that they're training new ones, but they probably want to keep the training operation going.
Being a former astronaut sucks today. It's not like being John Glenn. Ex-astronauts used to have a pass to NASA facilities, but one found out last year that his pass to HSC was no longer valid. Even worse, they're now portrayed as unemployed losers on TV. There was an episode of Blue Bloods on this, where a has-been alcoholic ex-astronaut is begging his old friend the police commissioner to find him a job.
these women will be waaaaay past menopause by the time they get to space.
They should have selected toddlers and trained them along the way.
take $5 out of the NSA budget and put it into a one shot trip to Mars
If we can get to Mars for $5 I'm all for it.
If they don't make it, we'll send another crew.
Better yet, send pre-killed astronauts. It'll save a fortune on life support and radiation shielding. Probably about as useful as the live ones too.
LOL, that should have been $5B... and don't be such a pessimist. When explorers went around the world in ships, there was disease, mutiny and other perils that they had to face. Some of the most successful explorers weren't seen sometimes for years during their journeys. Nowadays people want assurances that everything is safe, sanitized and is suitable for audiences of all ages. Screw that mentality because it's the mentality that government sponsorship buys you along with all of the other shit. Hell even the Astronaut Farmer made it to orbit. Okay that was a movie but if you have Scaled Composites building ships for a High Altitude Run, that means that LEO space is no longer the exclusive domain of governments or government funded transportation. All it will take is the right reason, the right group of entrepreneurs and some investment.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
They might, but it's not the end of the world. See, there are men out there who care more about achieving something greater than just getting laid a maximum number of times.
When you say 'just saying', it suggests you don't really believe the legitimacy of your own statement.
Just a quick book recommendation that addresses (amongst other things) the PhD vs. military tensions during the early period of the space shuttle program:
http://www.amazon.com/Riding-Rockets-Outrageous-Shuttle-Astronaut/dp/0743276833
It also candidly covers some of the pressures of being in the astronaut corps, warts & all. It's also by turns inspiring, tragic, irreverent and very funny, and not at all like many of the officially endorsed astronaut autobiographies. The author became an astronaut via the military track, and describes the mental and sociological adjustments he had to make as an (initially) male chauvinist jock astronaut, training alongside scientists and (shock horror!) women.
Disclaimer: Not affiliated with the author in any way, just a fan of the book.