What blows up, must come down.
This opinion is decades out of date.
It’s true that the original classes of U.S. astronauts (Mercury, Gemini, Apollo) were nearly all military pilots (geologist Harrison Schmitt, who went to the moon on Apollo 17, was a notable exception). However, through 40+ years of NASA astronauts in the Space Shuttle and ISS missions, many (primarily the Mission Specialists – who are absolutely still qualified astronauts) have been scientists and engineers, and were not pilots. Sally Ride, the first female American astronaut to go to space, had a Ph.D. in physics.
The story goes that an early unmanned NASA rocket blew up spectacularly on the launch pad, and one of the Mercury astronauts turned to another and said, 'Well, I’m glad we got that out of the way!"
Canadian astronaut Julie Payette, who went on two Space Shuttle missions and was the first Canadian astronaut to board the ISS, was later appointed as Governor General of Canada. This position is normally held by distinguished and learned individuals, like her predecessor David Johnston, a distinguished academic who was formerly the president of the University of Waterloo. In contrast, forget the stereotype of nice, polite Canadians – Payette was imperious and abrasive and hated by all the staff, and truly a disgrace to the office.
But then there’s Chris Hadfield, who also flew two Shuttle missions and was commander of the ISS during his tenure, and is a really cool guy.
Don’t forget this infamous story from about 20 years ago.
Cool guy indeed. I still enjoy his rendition of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” when he sang the song and accompanied himself on guitar, on the Space Station.
Sure, but talking about Walter Cunningham and Buzz Aldrin and the opinions those old former astronauts developed in the twilight years of their careers is talking about people from decades ago. Even today the only person without a military background to have walked the moon is still Harrison Schmitt, a geologist. He was awarded a slot in the very last flight to the moon and probably only because the external pressure to include a scientist was too much to ignore.
You claim the situation has improved in the last decades? Glad to hear it.
What is the reward? Status?
Because from a scientific point of view you get pretty crappy mileage per gallon out of this mission.
The reward is doing it, being in space , going to the moon and beyond.
If that’s not reward enough for you to risk your life a hundred times then you and I are very different people.
It should be obvious why lots of people would want to do it. Just like people want to do research in Antarctica. I wouldn’t do it if I was highly paid and had a 100% guarantee of success but I’m not wired that way.
I think this is kinda funny because a dog-walker can scoop up rocks in a bag but when things go bad you need someone who can fly the spacecraft.
The problem is not picking them up: the problem is deciding which of the thousands of possibilities to pick up when you can only bring back a very small number.
It’s like that joke about the plumber’s bill:
Tightening the valve - $1.00
Knowing which valve to tighten - $499.00
Remembering to get the valve tightened before it springs a leak - Priceless.
There are some things that money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.
While I agree there is truth to that, the flight mission requirements were magnitudes greater than what a geologist brought to the table. Of the 7 Apollo missions the first landing was seconds away from running out of fuel and was successful because of a highly skilled pilot. And one of the missions blew up en-route to the Moon.
But how many pilots do you need on a multi-person mission?
Apollo 11 had a Pilot and Co-Pilot for the landing with job functions split up between them. I assume that was how the rest of the missions were set up.
In all but one case, the Mission Commander piloted the LM. The one case was when Pete Conrad handed control to Al Bean while The Intrepid was on the far side of the Moon, out of radio contact. During flight, the Lunar Module Pilot’s job was mainly to read telemetry out to the Mission Commander.
Basically, the LM Pilot was not really the pilot of the LM. That being said, NASA would not have put someone unqualified on a rocket to the moon.
Was Schmitt the best qualified pilot? Probably not. Was he the best qualified geologist in the Astronaut Corps to take to the Moon for the last mission in the foreseeable future? Yes.
I wouldn’t snooze on status. A scientist with “Astronaut” and moon fieldwork on their CV will never want for research grants, publishing topics, and paid speaking opportunities, I’m sure.
And besides, who wouldn’t want to put “Lunologist” on their CV?