3 ms·

Something new, like their skin colour? How does that actually help do a space mission better?

by _dain_ 4y ago

criddell 4y ago
Think more about soft skills than hard skills. A big part of a modern astronauts job is speaking to people outside of the agency. School children, politicians, etc... It's in the agency's best interests to be relatable and inspiring to the widest swath of the population possible.
- _dain_ 4y ago
  That's so dull and unambitious. If astronauts are celebrities it implies there aren't many of them, which implies you're not doing many missions. It's manned space travel as an expensive toy for national prestige and pork barrel spending, i.e. nothing new at all. >It's in the agency's best interests to be relatable and inspiring to the widest swath of the population possible. I mean that just says it all, doesn't it? The organization pursuing whatever will further the organization, rather than achieving the nominal mission. Thank God we have SpaceX who are actually slashing launch costs and aiming to commoditize space travel. Astronauts shouldn't be inspiring celebrities, they should be like aircraft pilots. Competent, professional, and ubiquitous.
  - criddell 4y ago
    It seems like you are assuming they are selecting unqualified people to check some diversity box and as far as I know, that isn't the case at all. They have an enormous candidate pool of supremely talented people to choose from and in that pool are people of all types. But even if that weren't the case, consider that some of the people flying these days are only there because they can afford to pay for the seat. You want pilots but now that space flight is becoming more routine, you get passengers. I agree with you - thank God for SpaceX (and FWIW, they also have diversity commitments). They are an amazing partner for NASA and are making their competitors (especially Boeing) look incompetent.

3 ms·

Something new, like their skin colour? How does that actually help do a space mission better?

by _dain_ 4y ago

Something new, like their skin colour? How does that actually help do a space mission better?

criddell 4y ago
Think more about soft skills than hard skills. A big part of a modern astronauts job is speaking to people outside of the agency. School children, politicians, etc... It's in the agency's best interests to be relatable and inspiring to the widest swath of the population possible.
- _dain_ 4y ago
  That's so dull and unambitious. If astronauts are celebrities it implies there aren't many of them, which implies you're not doing many missions. It's manned space travel as an expensive toy for national prestige and pork barrel spending, i.e. nothing new at all. >It's in the agency's best interests to be relatable and inspiring to the widest swath of the population possible. I mean that just says it all, doesn't it? The organization pursuing whatever will further the organization, rather than achieving the nominal mission. Thank God we have SpaceX who are actually slashing launch costs and aiming to commoditize space travel. Astronauts shouldn't be inspiring celebrities, they should be like aircraft pilots. Competent, professional, and ubiquitous.
  - criddell 4y ago
    It seems like you are assuming they are selecting unqualified people to check some diversity box and as far as I know, that isn't the case at all. They have an enormous candidate pool of supremely talented people to choose from and in that pool are people of all types. But even if that weren't the case, consider that some of the people flying these days are only there because they can afford to pay for the seat. You want pilots but now that space flight is becoming more routine, you get passengers. I agree with you - thank God for SpaceX (and FWIW, they also have diversity commitments). They are an amazing partner for NASA and are making their competitors (especially Boeing) look incompetent.