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| SpaceDotCom |
NASA's dwindling astronaut corps will not be enough to meet the demands of future space station missions if staffing levels continue as the space agency expects, according to a new report.
With the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet this year, the American astronaut corps has steadily been decreasing in size as U.S. spaceflyers retired or quit their posts. But NASA still needs astronauts to fly missions to the International Space Station (ISS), which is slated to run through 2020.
With the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet this year, the American astronaut corps has steadily been decreasing in size as U.S. spaceflyers retired or quit their posts. But NASA still needs astronauts to fly missions to the International Space Station (ISS), which is slated to run through 2020.
Part of it may just be a matter of self-preservation in the wake of the Challenger and Columbia disasters. That is understandably a human response.
I hope its not that we've become too self-centered to care beyond our "creature comforts" of flat screen televisions, Internet connections and cell phone apps that a spirit of adventure and hope, birthed after the 60s from Civil Rights, Women's Rights, the Sexual Revolution and the once ubiquitous presence of Star Trek in popular culture -- with the exception of a small, nerdy few -- has been lost, maybe for a generation.
Space.com: NASA's Shrinking Astronaut Corps
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