Moon King - 10/9/2007 3:20 PMThats a very tough question. With the Space Shuttle retired and orion flying 2 flights per year (8 people in space per year rather than the 21+ we send up now) I doubt many of the current astronauts will stay and wait, most current astronauts will retire or quit before that, just like the gap between Apollo and the ShuttleHowever, I think Mark Kelly has a good shot if he stays long enough, and so does his twin brother, Scott Kelly. But will they stay around during the 5 year gap? Also, will the fact that they have gotten more flights than most of the current astronauts will ever get damage their chances? Maybe NASA will prefer a younger commander who was the pilot for one of the last Shuttle Missions, who knows.**One more point, with only 8 slots per year for spaceflights (2 flights per year), the astronaut corps will be a lot smaller, like the times of Gemini. Maybe thats good, they might become household names again (hard to do with the huge number of active duty astronauts currently.) However, they will train for many years and most might only get 1 or 2 shots at a spaceflight, that sucks!!!
sammie - 10/9/2007 7:12 PMI suppose Nowak would be a proper test pilot, I mean, she's crazy enough to be the first in an un-tested spacecraft, and things might go wrong. (you knew this was going to come right)
hyper_snyper - 10/9/2007 6:20 PMI don't think she's with NASA anymore.
Moon King - 10/9/2007 4:44 PMEXACTLY, AND SCOTT KELLY AND MARK KELLY FIT THAT PROFILE PERFECTLY, MY MONEY IS ON EITHER OF THEM UNLESS THEY DECIDES TO LEAVE DURING THE 5 YEAR FLIGHT GAP.
Moon King - 10/9/2007 6:20 PMThats a very tough question. With the Space Shuttle retired and orion flying 2 flights per year (8 people in space per year rather than the 21+ we send up now) I doubt many of the current astronauts will stay and wait, most current astronauts will retire or quit before that, just like the gap between Apollo and the Shuttle
imcub - 10/9/2007 6:34 PMPerhaps one old salt with lots of experience and a newbie hotshot ... just like Columbia in '81. I remember reports where John Young's heart rate was rather subdued compared to Bob Crippen's ... ~100 vs. close to 200 at liftoff if my memory serves me correctly. I've always wondered how Mr. Crippen's heart rate decreased over following flights.