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I don't doubt that the people selected to walk on the moon were indeed fit and healthy, but it seems like a stretch to think that the people who flew on the ear

by WJW 1y ago

I don't doubt that the people selected to walk on the moon were indeed fit and healthy, but it seems like a stretch to think that the people who flew on the earlier Apollo missions were selected to less stringent criteria. The selection effect should be just as strong for the people who "merely" got to fly around the moon. So out of two sets of people selected for being healthy, one group seems to be much more alive than the other. (Also yes obviously the sample size is too low to draw meaningful conclusions)

amalcon 1y ago
If anything, it would be even more so. If a person on the moon had a medical emergency, this would be a serious problem but there's another person there to help and/or fly the lander back to the capsule. If the person in the capsule had a medical emergency, it's hard to see how any of the crew survive. More likely though, as you suggest, the same astronomical standards (pun intended) applied to all crew members.
- garaetjjte 1y ago
  >If the person in the capsule had a medical emergency, it's hard to see how any of the crew survive. They could spacewalk and open CM hatch from the outside. Wrench for opening the hatch was stored in the lunar module.
gonzobonzo 1y ago
> I don't doubt that the people selected to walk on the moon were indeed fit and healthy, but it seems like a stretch to think that the people who flew on the earlier Apollo missions were selected to less stringent criteria. It's not a stretch to think that the people who flew on the earlier missions could have been older on average, though. Just looking at some of the ages, 2 of the still alive crowd are younger than all of the Apollo 8 astronauts. All of them are younger than two out of the three Apollo 8 astronauts. Even a few years difference in age can make a huge impact when we're talking about people in their 90's.

by WJW 1y ago

amalcon 1y ago

If anything, it would be even more so. If a person on the moon had a medical emergency, this would be a serious problem but there's another person there to help and/or fly the lander back to the capsule. If the person in the capsule had a medical emergency, it's hard to see how any of the crew survive. More likely though, as you suggest, the same astronomical standards (pun intended) applied to all crew members.

garaetjjte 1y ago
>If the person in the capsule had a medical emergency, it's hard to see how any of the crew survive. They could spacewalk and open CM hatch from the outside. Wrench for opening the hatch was stored in the lunar module.

gonzobonzo 1y ago

> I don't doubt that the people selected to walk on the moon were indeed fit and healthy, but it seems like a stretch to think that the people who flew on the earlier Apollo missions were selected to less stringent criteria. It's not a stretch to think that the people who flew on the earlier missions could have been older on average, though. Just looking at some of the ages, 2 of the still alive crowd are younger than all of the Apollo 8 astronauts. All of them are younger than two out of the three Apollo 8 astronauts. Even a few years difference in age can make a huge impact when we're talking about people in their 90's.