Have a read of the book 'Dragonfly' by Bryan Burroughs done during the Mir station era. It gives - I was once told by impeccable sources - that it's a very accurate recounting of the Machiavellian shenanigans surrounding crew selection for that era (italics added by zubenelgenubi).
Epps says health and family issues not to blame "and that her overseas training in Russia and Kazakhstan had been successful".http://www.newsweek.com/jeanette-epps-nasa-astronaut-iss-health-family-787650I believe it is entirely fair to ask why no African American astronauts have served on (not just visited) ISS. The station has been up there since 1998 and something like 230 astro or cosmonauts have visited - and nearly 110 have stayed long-term - during that span. Those are stark numbers staring us in the face. - Ed Kyle
Quote from: MATTBLAK on 01/23/2018 09:20 pmHave a read of the book 'Dragonfly' by Bryan Burroughs done during the Mir station era. It gives - I was once told by impeccable sources - that it's a very accurate recounting of the Machiavellian shenanigans surrounding crew selection for that era (italics added by zubenelgenubi).Caution here--and if I'm wrong, may our resident experts on the astronaut/cosmonaut cadres correct me, or Matt--but I'd be leery of any direct comparison of astronaut assignment today to the George Abbey era of astronaut flight assignment, which includes the Shuttle/Mir era.(Has any astronaut expressed regret after Dr. Abbey's retirement in 2001 that he would no longer be involved in crew selection?)As the 2019/2020 ISS Expedition assignments are filled in, we may learn (or deduce) more of, or all of "the rest of the story." (As Paul Harvey used to say)Or it may have to wait for current astronauts to write and publish memoirs--and that could be years or decades away.
Quote from: zubenelgenubi on 01/23/2018 10:15 pmQuote from: MATTBLAK on 01/23/2018 09:20 pmHave a read of the book 'Dragonfly' by Bryan Burroughs done during the Mir station era. It gives - I was once told by impeccable sources - that it's a very accurate recounting of the Machiavellian shenanigans surrounding crew selection for that era (italics added by zubenelgenubi).Caution here--and if I'm wrong, may our resident experts on the astronaut/cosmonaut cadres correct me, or Matt--but I'd be leery of any direct comparison of astronaut assignment today to the George Abbey era of astronaut flight assignment, which includes the Shuttle/Mir era.(Has any astronaut expressed regret after Dr. Abbey's retirement in 2001 that he would no longer be involved in crew selection?)As the 2019/2020 ISS Expedition assignments are filled in, we may learn (or deduce) more of, or all of "the rest of the story." (As Paul Harvey used to say)Or it may have to wait for current astronauts to write and publish memoirs--and that could be years or decades away.You're quite right that Mr Abbey being gone casts a different light on the selection process. But some things doubtlessly have stayed the same, even 20 years later. Although many Astronauts didn't like George Abbey - there must have been more than a couple things that he did right. And I actually think if he was still around, he may have fought hard to keep Dr Epps assigned. Unless of course; he took against her for some reason. We'll never know! But during Abbey's tenure, I think we can say that there was a fair amount of diversity in the crew assignments.
Thanks for the interjection, Mr Cassutt. I hope you can see from my previous post that I was kind of sticking up for Mr Abbey I have your books, by the way and they're treasured possessions. I hope you can sign them for me one day! It also turns out that you and I have a mutual friend in Colin Burgess. Best regards, Matt Pavletich.
To help understand this news about Dr. Epps being replaced, can anyone describe the process for Astronaut training in Russia, to what extent Russia's space agency has a say in approving U.S. astronauts for Expedition missions, and what the timing of the change might say about who/what/why, etc.? Could her work history (she's ex-CIA) have played a role? - Ed Kyle
Quote from: edkyle99 on 01/27/2018 02:57 amTo help understand this news about Dr. Epps being replaced, can anyone describe the process for Astronaut training in Russia, to what extent Russia's space agency has a say in approving U.S. astronauts for Expedition missions, and what the timing of the change might say about who/what/why, etc.? Could her work history (she's ex-CIA) have played a role? - Ed Kyle Epps' bg in the CIA had nothing to do with her removal from an ISS assignment. Any such concern -- and in this case it's just not relevant -- would have been addressed back in 2015, when her original assignment was approved by the International Partners, NASA, Roskosmos, ESA, JAXA and others. (That decision typically follows a NASA assignment by several months.... and is the reason you find public reports of astronauts like Meir beginning training at the Gagarin Center six months before NASA issues a press release.) Point being: if an astronaut is announced by the partners, that astronaut has been cleared.During training, which typically lasts two years, sometimes more, NASA astronauts are subject to technical exams on Soyuz -- all crew members are. And must be proficient in ISS mission tasks -- EVA, robotics, management of scientific experiments, etc. Progress is noted, and judged, and corrections are made if necessary. It's possible that a NASA or ESA or JAXA astronaut might perform so poorly on a Soyuz-specific exam that Roskosmos would sound an alarm, but Soyuz training takes up a small percentage of ISS training time. Less than airport waiting time (not flight time And even if Roskosmos felt that a NASA/ESA/JAXA crew member wasn't ready on Soyuz, refresher training would be the first option. Michael Cassutt
In accordance with the plan for preparing crews for space flights in the Cosmonaut Training Center named after Yu.A. Gagarin started training after the landing in a wooded swampy area in winter ("winter survival"). Astronauts of the "ROSKOSMOS" Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Skripochka, Andrei Borisenko, Sergei Ryzhikov, Andrei Babkin, Nikolai Chub, NASA astronauts Anne McClean, Andrew Morgan, Shannon Walker, Christina Cook, Jessica Meir, Richard Arnold, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and astronaut JAXA Soichi Noguchi will take part in the training.