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As far as I know, there are no age restrictions for NASA astronauts. Suni Williams actually is still young. Michael Barratt is 65 for example. He is aboard ISS right now, as a flight engineer of Expedition 71 and pilot of SpaceX Crew-8. He flew on Soyuz and the Shuttle before and spent more...

I think astronaut includes payload or mission specialists - it's just a rank like pilot or commander. I would say that an astronaut is a person that is trained and qualified to live and work in a complex spacecraft environment, travelling through space in an orbit or on a trajectory to another...

It actually turned to useless ballast 😂

I think it depends on the speed. I don't really would like to experience frictional heating on my suit 😅 And if you are not orbital, it would be a very short EVA anyway. Yeah, I know. It's not easy, especially when we consider that even ISS and higher objects are still experiencing drag and...

I don't think it splashes down 😜

That's the chemical and physical properties which still exist even a few thousand kilometers above Earth I think. But when someone says "space flight" or "space", or when I just read the term anywhere, my brain immediately creates images of satellites...

My example was just related to becoming a seaman. I think in space flight altitude matters. Grissom and Shepard reached 180/190 km, which would enable orbital flight and provide flight in space. Whereas altitudes between the Kármán line up to the lowest possible altitude for achieving more or...

Yeah. I think things will change once they go orbital.

True 😂 I was already thinking the same while watching the recorded stream. It seemed more like a funfair ride rather than people trying to enjoy a once in a lifetime experience. I mean... come on, we talk about space, right?

It depends... According to NASA, an astronaut is someone who flew aboard a (NASA) spacecraft, that orbited the Earth or went beyond. According to ESA, an astronaut is someone who has successfully completed basic astronaut training and went on a mission to space. According to the CSA, an...

I don't think it would be a smart idea to try this at the Kármán line, other than just out of curiosity / for a short-term very low Earth orbit experiment. There are actually two interesting questions involved, related to a ride with New Shepard and people talking about "astronauts" in this...

The altitude for at least one stable orbit is 150 km. Which is the reason why I am curious one can become an astronaut at 100 km 🤷‍♂️ (but not according to NASA). Going faster than escape velocity between 85 to 100 km isn't something I would try 💀😅 You are not really in space, and you would get...

Afaik it is the limit of aerosoace design since hehicles can't fly by lift at that altitude anymore. Hard to imagine how going up below the altitude of entry interface (400k ft) for vehicles that orbit earth or return from deep space; aka return from a space flight; does qualify to become an...

It seems I mixed up abbreviations. I am referring to the ASE, of which Ulrich Walther is a member. I remembered an interview in which he pointed out that orbital flight matters to qualify for astronaut (since we talked about Walther in a different thread recently)...

Interesting that they call the people onboard "astronauts". According to NASA and the IAF, only a person that orbits Earth is an astronaut. But I guess it's one of those things one can argue about endlessly. But they are for sure spacemen though, having crossed the Kármán line for a short period...

Nice interview with Terry Virts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_W._Virts

Because there are leaders and leading majorities in every county council, agency, company etc. Even the most "primitive" cultures in a rain forrest or African desert have leaders or patresfamilias. I don't think anarchy works well (and I am also not convinced of direct democracy btw.). Someone...

Locomotives don't miraculously drive on their own 😉

I just think each nation should commit itself for achieving a goal. And someone needs to give a vision 🤷‍♂️