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If the crew publicly suggest they would rather not join their Columbia forebears on the list of incinerated spacefaring heroes their careers at NASA (and opport
by yborg 2y ago
If the crew publicly suggest they would rather not join their Columbia forebears on the list of incinerated spacefaring heroes their careers at NASA (and opportunities afterward at Boeing or another contractor) would be over. And until the engineering decision is made there is no need to take that risk now.
- viraptor 2y agoIf they're are worried for their lives, then a career at Boeing may not be that important. They're extremely skilled engineers/scientists. It's unlikely they'd have issues finding serious work.
- ClumsyPilot 2y agoBut few opportunities to go to space
- AdamN 2y agoBased solely on age this is probably their last hurrah in space
- jfoster 2y agoReally? They're both about 60. Since they're both fit enough to be astronauts, I think we can say their life expectancy should be at least 85. Perhaps substantially longer with some medical advancements or age reversal. Look at what SpaceX is working on these days (Starship), consider that AI & robotics will likely accelerate progress, and I would say that you can definitely expect affordable and perhaps even relatively comfortable space travel within their lifetimes.
- AdamN 2y agoSure - but paying for that on an astronaut's pension??