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Breakout of NASA Astronaut Corps by service affiliation
- Thread starter BACONATOR
- Start date
2 E-2 NFOs were on the final select list this year...
Noting in naval aviation is closer to space flight than "Pigs-in-Space" (doing 0-g pushovers in the back of the hummer). Floating around, no windows, and a 2 other dudes puking on you.
According to http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/factsheets/asseltrn.html
Pilot: "Height between 64 and 76 inches.
Height requirements for mission specialists are between 58.5 and 76 inches."
Not that it affects many, just didn't want anybody's dreams to be crushed by mistake...
God forbid this happens.....I think they are just afraid of them drinking too much scotch.
That's a pretty cool story - can he squeeze anything else onto his resume? SEAL, Astronaut, I don't know ... maybe Pope?
Really?!! I never knew such a thing existed........
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/shepherd.html
P.S. I was just talking about military pilots, there are plenty of unique people who are NASA astronauts.
Hate to piss in your proverbial Wheaties, but nobody actually gets to fly or "drive" the shuttle. She's all computer controlled and with a pre-programmed flight plan from launch to landing.
So why do they need a pilot? It seems that during the landing sequence the computer prompts gear extension and the pilot has to push the "Yes, extend the gear" button. But if he doesn't push it, the computer will override it and extend them anyway.
It's all covered in Richard Feynman's Challenger essay, part of What Do You Care What Other People Think?
Although I did see that movie where Clint Eastwood pops the emergency hatch at about Mach 10, then dead sticks it in to Cape Canaveral. I guess that could happen, right?
If I'm up to speed on NASA as I used to be, there's only been one time when the shuttle was flown by hand from reentry to final stop, and it was because one of the computers was malfunctioning. Apparently, he was a Marine aviator, go figure.
EDIT: Final approach isn't flown on autopilot, evidenced by the fact that NASA trains its commanders and pilots to fly final in a couple of gulfstreams set up to mimic the shuttle's handling complete with replicated cockpit.
Hell that happens while sitting on planes already - I am sure those of you with wings or on your way there can relate. Try being a chick - some guy is really interested in you at the bar, then you tell them you fly scout helos in the Army and suddenly he just wants to chug a beer faster than you then take home your ditsy high school friend who still works in retail.
So, anyway the total between all the astronauts (historical and active) breaks out like this:
USAF Pilot: 81
USAF Nav: 1
USAF FS/Engineer: 13
USN Pilot: 69
USN NFO: 8
USN FS: 5
USMC Pilot: 22
USMC NFO: 1
USCG Pilot: 2
US Army Pilot: 14
Very interesting when you look at the current astronauts versus the retired/former astronauts. The current batch is HEAVILY, HEAVILY weighted toward civilians, where as the former astronauts are heavily weighted toward military guys.
There are still a couple oddities in there; the two SEALs that were mentioned, plus a Navy diver, a submariner, and a meteorologist.
USAF Pilot: 81
USAF Nav: 1
USAF FS/Engineer: 13
USN Pilot: 69
USN NFO: 8
USN FS: 5
USMC Pilot: 22
USMC NFO: 1
USCG Pilot: 2
US Army Pilot: 14
Very interesting when you look at the current astronauts versus the retired/former astronauts. The current batch is HEAVILY, HEAVILY weighted toward civilians, where as the former astronauts are heavily weighted toward military guys.
There are still a couple oddities in there; the two SEALs that were mentioned, plus a Navy diver, a submariner, and a meteorologist.
I did a little searching when you first posted the numbers to try and find them, and found the JSC's website with all of the bios. After clicking through a few and seeing how many there were, I figured I had better things to do with my time, which I didn't of course......except for work
.So, much credit to you for actually doing that, it is a great resource. +1
Now, don't you have some Masters work to get to?
P.S. If anyone needed a little more evidence to go NFO over Navigator, take a look at the numbers.
P.P.S. What did you count the Aviator/FS's? I know there are a few of those. Just as Aviators?
You're so modest when your tongue-in-cheek attempted thread-jack actually result in moments of brillance that inspire a split thread