# Do you realize that the next human to land on the Moon... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 9, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-realize-that-the-next-human-to-land-on-the-moon/339225 "2006-01-09T22:39:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-realize-that-the-next-human-to-land-on-the-moon/339225/21 "2006-01-10T15:52:15Z")
Cool thread. Let me echo **Santos** though: Assuming the eagle re-lands in 2018 I would be astounded if the first mission isn’t either almost entirely in the Astronaut Corp 1/10/06 or candidates (pgs 38-39 of Santos’s link). If any crewmen are not currently Astronauts, certainly by using past experience, these folks are in Grad School or teaching/researching today. He/She is almost certainly in their late 20’s or early (maybe even mid) 30’s now. I would not be hugely surprised (a little) to see a 50-something fly on this or subsequent missions. Let’s say Bush’s plan goes forward as envisioned and nothing major (funding/Nationalwill/War etc ) intervenes. A reasonable case for Mars 2030 might be made (Bush set no to timetable, but [Space.com](http://Space.com), most media outlets s and [Marsnews.com](http://Marsnews.com) speculate that this is a reasonable date/ also The European Space Agency (ESA) has the Aurora mission to put humans on Mars, also by 2030) So blah-blah here is some reasonable WAGs: The Oldest crew member – the 45 year old Mars commander - is in College today, just getting back from a Bowl game in fact – maybe you saw him? He was shirtless and painted in his team’s colors The Youngest crew member - Mission Specialist, 33, is a 9 year old 4th grader with a precocious interest in rocks and uncanny ability to find fossils that her Dad is encouraging in her. The other 7 crewmen are aged in between. All excel in their school-work (where they are now: grade, high school and college) Here is the link –with qualification requirements. They take 20 new ones every year. [http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/EI49.asp](http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/EI49.asp) On the Military issue: there is no requirement to be Military (but to be a Pilot (as opposed to a Mission specialist) you need 1000 hours in a jet to qualify to even apply and that can be, difficult, if you aren’t military. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-realize-that-the-next-human-to-land-on-the-moon/339225/22 "2006-01-10T16:03:05Z")
I believe that Harrison Schmidt is the only civilian to have walked on the moon (Apollo 17). ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-realize-that-the-next-human-to-land-on-the-moon/339225/23 "2006-01-10T17:41:24Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > You cited Bush’s proposed timeline. > > So, yeah. You implied, quite clearly, an American. Okay. show me the Chinese timeline for going to the Moon, and we can discuss that too. As I have stated, there were no nationality restrictions in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-realize-that-the-next-human-to-land-on-the-moon/339225/24 "2006-01-10T17:53:58Z")
Perhaps one should address which countries, or consortium of countries, are capable of a lunar landing under the American timeline you stated: USA? China? ESA? ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-realize-that-the-next-human-to-land-on-the-moon/339225/25 "2006-01-10T18:01:33Z")
> [@jimmmy](#): > > Cool thread. Let me echo **Santos** though: Assuming the eagle re-lands in 2018 I would be astounded if the first mission isn’t either almost entirely in the Astronaut Corp 1/10/06 or candidates (pgs 38-39 of Santos’s link). If any crewmen are not currently Astronauts, certainly by using past experience, these folks are in Grad School or teaching/researching today. He/She is almost certainly in their late 20’s or early (maybe even mid) 30’s now. I would not be hugely surprised (a little) to see a 50-something fly on this or subsequent missions. > > So blah-blah here is some reasonable WAGs: > > The Oldest crew member – the 45 year old Mars commander - is in College today, just getting back from a Bowl game in fact – maybe you saw him? He was shirtless and painted in his team’s colors > The Youngest crew member - Mission Specialist, 33, is a 9 year old 4th grader with a precocious interest in rocks and uncanny ability to find fossils that her Dad is encouraging in her. > The other 7 crewmen are aged in between. All excel in their school-work (where they are now: grade, high school and college) Thanks, **jimmmy.** I may have got the ages wrong, but your reply was just the kind of discussion I was looking for. My OP was inspired by one of my favorite scenes in the HBO miniseries, “From The Earth To The Moon”, when Deke Slayton calls the Astronaut Corps into his office and tells them that, he doesn’t know exactly who, but that the first man to set foot on the Moon just walked into his office and sat down. And the second. And the third. And so on. Someday, soon, that scene is going to be repeated. And since it is almost certain that the first Mars Astronauts will be Lunar veterans, He or she will be in that room, too. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-realize-that-the-next-human-to-land-on-the-moon/339225/26 "2006-01-11T05:06:38Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > I believe that Harrison Schmidt is the only civilian to have walked on the moon (Apollo 17). There was another one…“Neil” something, I think…who was a civilian, albeit a Navy veteran. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-realize-that-the-next-human-to-land-on-the-moon/339225/27 "2006-01-11T09:13:04Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > There was another one…“Neil” something, I think…who was a civilian, albeit a Navy veteran. You’re right, Neil Armstrong was considered a civilian because while he _had_ been a Navy pilot (he flew combat missions off the aircraft carrier Essex during the Korean war), he was a civilian test pilot for quite a few years in between. The rest of the moonwalkers had gone directly from being military pilots to becoming astronauts. As **h.sapiens** said, Harrison Schmitt was the only totally non-military astronaut to walk on the moon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-realize-that-the-next-human-to-land-on-the-moon/339225.md?page=1)