Last night I was watching a recap of the preparation and launch of the space shuttle Discovery on NASA television. In one video, which can be seen in this “Hatch is Closed” video, they show the commander of the flight, Mark Polansky, climbing into his seat on the flight deck of Discovery. In that shot, he was wearing eyeglasses. Does this imply that shuttle pilots are not required to have perfect vision? Or, are these actually some sort of safety glasses they put on to avoid a last-minute delay caused by something so mundane as a pilot getting a bit of schmutz in their eye?
It may be two questions:
Here are some NASA astronaut requirements:
"3. Ability to pass a NASA space physical which is similar to a military or civilian flight physical and includes the following specific standards:
* Distant visual acuity: 20/100 or better uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 each eye.
* Blood pressure: 140/90 measured in a sitting position.
* Height between 64 and 76 inches. "
However, that still doesn’t mean those glasses were corrective. Pilots also were glasses sometimes to do special filtering and enhance contrast.
Interesting, thanks. 20/100 isn’t terribly bad, and I can imagine that NASA wouldn’t want to decrease the pool of otherwise highly qualified astronauts due to a relatively minor vision problem that can be corrected. The glasses were clearly clear, but that still doesn’t preclude them from having something like a UV coating on them. However, the helmets they wear on ascent and descent have a darkened shade that flips down, so that probably takes care of any flitering/contrast issues.