The NASA astronaut corps members have requested that, now that the shuttle program ends and their chances of flying good anywhere soon become smaller. The space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to launch this week, and the Atlantis is supposed to fly the last mission of the space shuttle in June - and all seats are spoken for.
"Morale is low," said Leroy Chiao, a former astronaut who now works for a company that wants to offer space flights for tourists. "This is a time of great uncertainty."
Under President Obama, manned NASA program has been reduced. The Ares I and Constellation programs, which were intended to succeed the space shuttle and take astronauts to the Moon, have been cancelled and NASA is instead hiring outside firms to design alternatives.
Thus when the Obama family Space Center Kennedy in Florida this week is to sit down with Gabrielle Giffords, Member of Congress Arizona wounded, as she looks at her husband of the latter, Captain Mark e. Kelly, of the Navy, take off for the International Space Station, it will be one of the last of its kind for a while. Over the next few years, the American astronauts will compete a handful of slots on the International Space Station, flying it y of the Soyuz capsules.
"We hope overcome us this obstacle and continue to explore," said Peggy a. Whitson, the head of the Office of the NASA astronauts, whose work includes selecting astronauts to be fly each space mission. While the minds of the people are a little down, she said, "" we need to see - NASA has passed through different phases like that before. ""
The current situation may not stop the active-duty roster of elementary school together career aspirations, but last year only, the astronauts left 20 of NASA; Today, 61 remain, compared to a peak of about 150 in 2000. At the time, NASA has been gearing up to the International Space Station and shuttle that it has provided personnel.
The change made a big difference to people like John M. Grunsfeld, Dr. Fix - It of the Hubble Space Telescope, which has flown five missions for NASA. After its last flight in May 2009 he asked Dr. Whitson on its chances of return space. "It was honest," said Dr. Grunsfeld. "Slim None."
If Dr. Whitson had again brandished a small chance to a plum assignment, as Commander of the International Space Station, "I probably could have stayed," said Dr. Grunsfeld, 52. But it did not. It was thus not in January 2010, Deputy NASA to become Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which operates the Hubble.
Another astronaut for whom the new realities presented a problem was the Captain Scott d. Altman of the Navy, which carried out four missions for NASA. But at 6-foot-4, it does not correspond to a Russian Soyuz capsule.
After its last flight of the shuttle in 2009, Captain Altman, 51, saw the writing on the wall. As he struggled with the decision on whether to leave NASA, the administration of the Obama made the decision to scrap Constellation and Ares I. He announced last August that he would leave.
Leaving NASA "was the right decision", Captain Altman said, but "there are some regrets from time to time." He now works for ASRC research and Technology Solutions in Maryland, which performs engineering for NASA and other federal agencies.
NASA will be hiring astronauts, but not the people of vintage Captain Altman. In the next year or two, that more people leave or retire, the Agency is recruiting a new class of 6-12 astronauts, said Dr. Whitson. If NASA decides to reduce the periods of assignment to the space station for six months to four, it would mean a need for astronauts to still more.
"We informed the entire desktop on what to expect," said Dr. Whitson, who is herself an astronaut.
Meanwhile, prospects for outside NASA astronauts are small but growing.
Virgin Galactic, part of the empire of Richard Branson, seeks to three pilots of space for SpaceShipTwo rocket aircraft, which can begin space tourism travel next year. While the SpaceShipTwo suborbital hops provide a few minutes of weightlessness, other companies - such as Boeing and the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, better known as SpaceX - will develop spacecraft which will be able to fly to the International Space Station and elsewhere.
Garrett e. Reisman, who joined the body of the astronauts in 1998, left NASA month last for SpaceX, which was founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk Internet. M. Reisman has recorded more than three months in space and work on the space station's robotic arm.
"Become an astronaut is the coolest job ever," said Dr. Reisman, 43. "It was very, very difficult to leave voluntarily."
If Mr. Reisman had remained at NASA, he would have had a chance to fly once more, but he decided to go ahead. He is now working on a rocket (Falcon 9) and spacecraft (the Dragon) which are intended to take passengers and cargo to the space station.
"This is the dream of a report from engineer to design a spacecraft," he said. "For me, it seems that we are about to a golden age of space flight - this is where I wanted to be.".
For each astronaut who left NASA due to age or lack of opportunities, there are a number of young people who aspire to fill their shoes.
The work is always romantic as the standards are rigorous. According to the website of NASA, astronaut candidates must be able to swim three lengths of a pool in a combination of flight and tennis shoes. a graduate in science or mathematics degree is a plus.
The requirements are even more stringent for people who want to work in the space station: you must speak Russian, namely, robotics, training outputs spacewalks and be well enough to spend six months in space.
This formidable checklist helped NASA reposition some astronauts cancelled. But it was not blunt memories of anyone.
"Being in space as being somewhere magical," said colonel Pamela Ann Melroy air force, the second female astronaut to command a shuttle mission. She left NASA in 2009, knowing that there would be intense manoeuvring by astronauts who seek to control a few other flights.
"I didn't really get into the situation where I was hanging in the hope that I would get one of them," she said.
Colonel Melroy is always nostalgic on perspective lost to fly on the i. Ares "Which would have been a hoot," said.
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