OM wrote:
On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 07:27:11 -0600, "Jim Oberg"
wrote:


for newsgroup alt.geezers-in-space

The average age is late 40's -- is this the oldest-ever
shuttle crew?


...I think this is NASA's way of getting around any post-Nowak
accusations of Zero-G fooling around, Jim.

"Well, if you must know, John Glenn proved on his Shuttle flight that
there comes a time in a person's life when their libido is so burned
out that not even Viagra *and* microgravity will allow someone to rise
to the occasion. Which is why we're now sending up crews that are no
longer sexually active due to age..."

I'm just now wondering...how long was John Young "officially" still on
the "active" astronauts' roster long after his contemporaries had
retired and/or died? I know a lot of that was PR, but I'm trying to
remember if he was still "officially active" when the decision on the
Glenn flight was made, and if anybody in the meetings said "hang on,
isn't John Young supposed to be still on the active roster? What is he,
like, seventy or something?"

I mean, if they'd really wanted to study the older, retired early
astronauts, couldn't they have just as easily flown a guy who first flew
in Gemini, commanded the first STS flight, and who was supposedly still
"getting his hours in"?

It was really satisfying and neat and all to see Glenn fly one more
time, but they really could've come right and said so if it was really
just about giving Glenn one more ride rather than an "age study". After
all, they may have actually been able to fly Young as PLT on that one,
or at least honorary PLT, perhaps given the guy a seat on the flight
deck at least, instead of making him ride in "coach", like Glenn, and as
a Payload Specialist (or, as I called Glenn during that flight, simply
"Payload").

--

..

"Though I could not caution all, I yet may warn a few:
Don't lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools!"

--grateful dead.
__________________________________________________ _____________
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
"Mikey'zine": dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org