STS-117 crew -- oldest ever?

for newsgroup alt.geezers-in-space

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

"Jim Oberg" wrote in message
...
for newsgroup alt.geezers-in-space

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

I don't know, but on STS-2 the average age of Truly and Engle was 48 years 5
months.

Age does not seem to be as much of an issue these days aslong as there are
no medical conditions which could be worsened by the experience.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Neil Gerace" wrote in message
...

"Jim Oberg" wrote in message
...
for newsgroup alt.geezers-in-space

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

I don't know, but on STS-2 the average age of Truly and Engle was 48 years
5 months.

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..."

OM
--
]=====================================[
] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [
] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [
] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [
]=====================================[

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?


does Project Daedalus count?

--
Terrell Miller


"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the
work of one extraordinary man."
- Elbert Hubbard

On Sun, 18 Feb 2007 09:53:58 -0500, "Terrell Miller"
wrote:

does Project Daedalus count?

....That reminds me, I need to bug Mark Wade again about adding Team
Dadaelus to the "Phantom Astronauts" page, along with Roy Flemming.

OM
--
]=====================================[
] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [
] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [
] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [
]=====================================[

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

In article rs.com,
mike flugennock wrote:
...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...

I don't remember the exact dates, but yes, Young's official retirement was
well after Glenn's junket, and I think Young was still nominally on flight
status right to the end.

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"?

Yep. Or they could have refrained from forcibly retiring Story Musgrave,
who *was* still "getting his hours in" until shortly before that -- six
flights done and ready for a seventh -- and was an MD to boot. (He was
only a few years younger than Young, having been one of the "Excess 11"
second batch of Apollo scientist-astronauts.)

...instead of making him ride in "coach", like Glenn, and as
a Payload Specialist (or, as I called Glenn during that flight, simply
"Payload").

I was still doing my Aviation Leak summaries at the time, and made a point
of listing Glenn as a payload.
--
spsystems.net is temporarily off the air; | Henry Spencer
mail to henry at zoo.utoronto.ca instead. |

"OM" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 18 Feb 2007 09:53:58 -0500, "Terrell Miller"
wrote:

does Project Daedalus count?

...That reminds me, I need to bug Mark Wade again about adding Team
Dadaelus to the "Phantom Astronauts" page, along with Roy Flemming.

....who still holds the alltime record for nominal descent trajectory



--
Terrell Miller


"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the
work of one extraordinary man."
- Elbert Hubbard

mike flugennock wrote:

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"?

1. They didn't really "want to study the older, retired early
astronauts".

2. Young was not a US senator.

Jim Davis