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Mars Mission: How Hard? NASA Astronauts Weigh In
astroengine writes: In an interesting interview with Discovery News, retired NASA astronauts Clay Anderson (Expedition 15/16) and Steve Swanson (Expedition 39/40) discussed their views on how the US space agency should select the first Mars-bound astronauts — a mission that is slated to commence in the late 2020's. While Swanson thinks that the current NASA astronaut selection process should suffice for a long-duration foray to the Red Planet, Anderson isn't so sure, saying, "(Mars) doesn't require a jet fighter pilot. It doesn't require a Ph.D. astronaut — although those people would be just fine, but I think that it's going to take people that are very good generalists, that can do many things." As depicted in the upcoming Matt Damon movie, "The Martian," Mark Watney (Damon) is thrown into an unexpected, life-threatening situation, requiring him to use his general skill set to survive on the barren landscape until he's rescued. As the first manned missions to Mars will likely throw unforeseen challenges at the explorers, it will probably be a good idea to have a crew that are adept at thinking on the fly and skilled in many different areas rather than being a specialist in one.
Yeah, but Star Trek suggests that a team of highly skilled specialists working together is the way to go.
Granted, but the crew of most starships in Star Trek is rather large. The smaller the crew, the broader the experience of each crew member needs to be. A five-person team, especially when cut off from Earth by a large round-trip communications gap, needs to composed of people who know more than just their PhD thesis.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
I don't know, Star Trek suggests to me that starships typically have a crew of around seven people:
* Captain
* First Officer
* Helmsman
* Chief Engineer
* Science Officer
* Doctor
* Security Officer
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
An older friend was a phd director level at NASA before retiring once told me that they (NASA) had once done a study and found that people who grew up on farms were the best with solving problems because they grew up constantly fixing stuff. But this was back in the 70's.