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NASA picks 8 new public relations figureheads, calls them astronauts.

NASA picks 8 new public relations figureheads, calls them astronauts.

To put it bluntly, NASA presently can’t put any astronauts into orbit, and might not be able to do ever again. Any astronauts on NASA’s payroll will thus likely have to beg a seat on a spacecraft built by others. Eventually, that begging won’t get them anywhere, which means that the work these new astronauts will mostly do will be to sell NASA to the public.

In the past, the PR work of astronauts only consumed a significant part of their time. For the present and probably in the future, it will be the only work they do.

Which makes me question the need to hire these astronauts in the first place. If I had my druthers and ran NASA, I’d rather wait until I actually need some astronauts and then hire the pilots who are flying SpaceShipTwo.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

5 comments

  • Chris Kirkendall

    “If I had my druthers and ran NASA, I’d rather wait until I actually need some astronauts and then hire the pilots who are flying SpaceShipTwo.”

    I agree – I guess that would make too much sense for NASA’s bureaucracy…

  • ‘NASA astronaut’ must be one of the highest profile dead-end jobs in the world.

  • wodun

    The race is on. Will SLS fly before the people selected to fly on it start collecting Social Security?

  • joe

    Maybe they could use these astronauts for the new Muslim outreach program.

  • Pzatchok

    And these 8 will be added to the already 49 that are waiting for the next manned ride on anything going up.

    These rides include but are not limited to the manned landing on an asteroid sometime in the 2020’s.

    That’s right, 10 years from now. In a ship that is not even designed yet let alone built.

    That’s right. NASA is paying 57 people to train for the next 10 years for 4 seats on a possible space flight.
    What the hell are they training for? 50% of what they train for, an aircraft mechanic could do. Half of their training is for emergency repairs to the craft.
    The other half if for either house keeping or watching science experiments, Something a good lab tech could do.
    Its not they are actually flying the thing like a wwI biplane. The thing is guided by computers which are programed from the ground. We have drones that can land themselves on a moving aircraft carrier now.

    Quite frankly we could find 100 high school graduates and send them to the collages of their choice and pay for the whole thing and they would still be fully trained for the next manned space mission before they even have the ship to fly them in built.
    For cheaper than its costing us to train these monkey’s. The kids wouldn’t need paid they would do it for the free schooling and extra training.
    Hell the government has probably already paid to train 90% of these people just to get them qualified to be astronauts. Think of all the ones who are military or got government grants for collage alone.

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