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Today TV
audiences all over the world are accustomed to the sight of American astronauts
in tip-top condition, with fair hair, crew-cuts, good teeth, an uncomplicated
sense of humour and a severely limited non-technical vocabulary.
What marks out an astronaut from his earthbound fellow
human beings is something of a difficult problem. Should you wish to interview
him, you must apply beforehand, and you must be prepared for a longish wait,
even if your application meets with success. It is. in any case, out of the
question to interview an astronaut about his family life or personal activities,
because all the astronauts have contracts with an American magazine under
conditions forbidding any unauthorized disclosures about their private lives.
Certain obvious qualifies are needed. Anyone who would be
a spaceman must be in perfect health, must have powers of concentration(since
work inside a spacecraft is exceptionally demanding)and must have considerable
courage. Again, space-work calls for dedication. Courage and dedication are
particularly essential. In the well-known case of the Challenger seven crew
members lost their lives in space because of the faulty equipment in the
shuttle. Another must be outstanding scientific expertise. It goes without
saying that they all have to have professional aeronautical qualifications and
experience.
A striking feature of the astronauts is their ages.
For the younger man, in his twenties, say, space is out. Only one of the fifty
men working for NASA in 1970 was under 30. The oldest astronaut to date is Alan
Shepard, America’s first man in space, who, at nearly fifty, was also the man
who captained Apollo 13. The average age is the late thirties. The crew members
of Apollo 11 were all born well before the Second World War. In 1986 the
Challenger astronauts had an average age of 39. The range was from 35 to 46.
In a society where marital continuity is not always
exhibited, the astronauts’record in this respect hits you in the eye. Of all the
married men in NASA group, only two or three are divorced from their wives. Mind
you. it is hard to tell whether something in the basic character of an astronaut
encourages fidelity or whether the selection process demands that a candidate
should be happily married.
The NASA astronauts live in
unattractive small communities dotted here and there around the base in Texas.
You would expect them to find their friends from among their professional
associates, but this is not the case. Rather, they prefer to make friends with
the normal folk in their districts. Astronauts, like everybody else, must get
fed up with talking shop all the time, and whereas they are indeed an elite,
their daily life outside work should be as normal as possible, if only for the
sake of their families.
As for the astronauts’political
leanings, they seem to be towards the right. This may be due to the fact that a
large proportion of the astronauts have a military background. On the other
hand, it could be just coincidence. |
