NASA Wants "People People" for Astronaut Core

Hugh Pickens writes "Astronauts are the ultimate Type A personalities but that can backfire during a long stay in space so NASA is taking applications for a new crop of astronauts whose main duties are to conduct experiments, keep the station running and stay in their crewmates' good graces. For that, NASA needs an affable, tolerant guy or gal who is more researcher than jet jockey. 'You need to be more of a people person' to serve on the station, says astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who has flown on the space shuttle and commanded the station. 'You can't just be steely-eyed, no matter how competent.' Coping skills are crucial on a station mission, which lasts three to six months, compared with 11 to 15 days for a shuttle mission. 'Anybody can get along with anybody for a couple of weeks,' says psychiatry professor Nick Kanas who studies astronaut behavior. After a month or two, 'being with somebody for that long starts to wear on you. The jokes get stale. You have to learn new ways of interacting.'"

Corps!

[StCredZero]

Slashdot needs literate editors!

Re:Stop trying to humanize NASA.

[Macgruder]

Better yet, skip the jet jockeys and flyboys. Recruit from the submarine service. Steely-eyed, and they have the proven skills to work in inhospitable environments for months on end without cracking up or going psycho.

Re:Stop trying to humanize NASA.

[Grishnakh]

Not necessarily. I don't like being around others much at all, either, except for my wife (and even there I need time alone of course). I'd be perfectly happy with a job working at home, though my current engineering job isn't too bad either since I don't have to talk to others much.

The problem with space travel is that you aren't sending individual astronauts out on missions by themselves; you're sending teams of astronauts. So while that Mars astronaut may be away from most friends and family for 1-2 years, he's going to be in the constant company of a small handful of fellow astronauts, in a tiny capsule of some kind. Personally, I think I'd lose it if I was forced to share cramped quarters with other people for that long. It might be doable if I had to be on the Discovery from 2001, which was a rather sizable ship, and had a nice shuttle bay I could hang out in to be alone, but any near-term mission to Mars is probably going to have a tiny ship for the crew.

I think it takes a special kind of person to be able to share cramped quarters with a handful of other people for months or years at a time; fighter pilots probably aren't it, and extreme introverts aren't it either. Experienced submariners are the only group of people that seem like they'd be a good fit, though I'm not sure how you find and recruit people like that who don't already have a career in the Navy. Besides, it's likely they'd want a mixed-gender crew, and submariners are all male.

I've said it before.

[DerekLyons]

The US already has a largish pool of individuals already self selected, tested, screened, and proven for many of the traits that NASA seem to want here. A large number of them even have college degrees. (The only drawback being - the pool 100% male.)
 
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Yeah, you need fighter pilots to do the piloting part on the Shuttle and Orion and any future landing, but to actually operate the gear and the experiments on the Station, on a Moon or Mars base, or cruising to and from Mars: Your best bet is to recruit from the US Submarine Service.

Re:Stop trying to humanize NASA.

[Jeff DeMaagd]

I think you have a misunderstanding of military people, in many ways they seem to be the last people you can expect to "keep their pants on", as it were.

That, and Lisa Nowak was not a "people person" based on statements by her coworkers.

Re:Oh, wonderful, NASA joins the anti-autism crusa

[Rakishi]

Humans evolved society and social behavior for a reason and most can deal with it (to various degrees). If someone is blind you don't make them a sniper, you don't create a touch based vision (that's inferior) just for him.

It's sher arrogance to assume the rest of society needs to bend backwards for you at their detriment simply because you can't do it for them.

Re:Oh, wonderful, NASA joins the anti-autism crusa

[Rakishi]

So everyone except you and your group is wrong and inferior? And you call them prejudiced, short sighted and unwilling to accept those who are different...

People are in control, their's no excuse for prejudice.

So then autistic people should have no trouble acting so that others don't have problems with them. Oh wait, everyone is perfect and capable of altering the way their mind works in utter detail except autistic people...