> How do you make sure they are? Astronauts are not just thrown in box and launched to space. The current practice is that an astronaut gets assigned to the pr

> How do you make sure they are? Astronauts are not just thrown in box and launched to space. The current practice is that an astronaut gets assigned to the project way before the spacecraft in question is ready and they participate in the engineering process. They are obviously consulted on aspects of operations and crew interfaces. They work together with the other engineers to write the manuals and checklists. Of course they can and do raise their own questions about subsystems too. Their role is similar to test pilots because well that is what they are. This will hopefully change as space flight becomes more routine. And then astronauts role will become more of what a pilot does. How do we make sure that pilots are reasonably informed? We can show them accident statistics, and through their training we explain the high level operation of the various subsystems of their craft and the role of various actors in flight safety. (Maintenance, ATC, management, the flight attendants, FFA)