5 candid facts about astronauts

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Mike Mullein's autobiographical work Riding a Rocket. Outrageous Stories of a Space Shuttle Astronaut”will tell the reader about the preparations and flights of the famous Space Shuttle program, the inexcusable mistakes of the bureaucracy, the mentality of ordinary Americans and the confrontation between the great powers.

1. Astronauts don't like psychiatrists

The selection to the ranks of astronauts is extremely tough. Out of 8,000 candidates for participation in the Space Shuttle flights, only 35 people were selected. Future conquerors of space bring their physical form to a state close to ideal, but years of caring for their health and long hours of training are powerless when it comes to being examined by a psychiatrist.

“I didn't want anything in my surveys to raise questions. I wanted to be normal enough that when someone looked for this word in the dictionary, he would find my portrait there. So I lied. I did not say anything about how we wrote into the radiator, how we blew up a car engine, or how we rushed around the mountain peaks in the Cessna-150. I lied even when the truth could be good for me,”the author writes.

Mike Mullein talks about being tested by two specialists, each of whom strove to catch him on some psychological "mine". Like other candidates, he was asked questions, the answers to which are often not obvious. Trying to please the commission, the future astronauts openly lied to psychiatrists.

2. Nothing human is alien to the astronaut

The author highlighted the relationship of young astronauts with the opposite sex in a separate chapter entitled "Heifers and Drinks." Space Shuttle astronauts were invited guests to the officers' clubs. The very title of "astronaut" was enough to have tremendous success with women.

The fact that none of us were closer to space yet than the average flight attendant seemed irrelevant. For space fans, the position was quite enough.

“Riding a rocket. Outrageous stories of a shuttle astronaut"

Mike Mullein did not taste the bachelor privileges of the young astronaut: by the time of selection he was already married. However, the ring on the finger did not stop many other conquerors of space from enjoying carnal joys. There was a relative endorsement of promiscuity in the ranks of astronauts by the time the Space Shuttle program was being prepared.

3. Rule number 1: "Better death than shame"

"Better death than shame" is a refrain found in various chapters throughout the book. Indeed, it was just such a simple but powerful motivator that secured a place for the elected in the ranks of astronauts. It was the fear of disgrace that in many ways forced the candidates to study tirelessly and to show their maximum capabilities in attempts not to vomit the contents of the stomach during tests simulating being in zero gravity.

4. Astronauts are immature to women

Mike Mullein himself considered himself to be people from the Planet of Arrested Development. The astronaut studied at a Catholic school, and connected his further fate with military affairs. As a result, even choosing clothes for Mullein on his own became an overwhelming task. Also, the author did not receive the proper knowledge and skills in the field of relationships with the opposite sex. Mullein notes that a certain underdevelopment is inherent in the vast majority of military pilots who are selected for astronauts.

One day in the beginning, I had the imprudence to tell a group of newbies, including Sally Ride, an anecdote that featured the word "boobs." Sally hardly spoke a word to me in the next 10 years.

“Riding a rocket. Outrageous stories of a shuttle astronaut"

Women in the Space Shuttle program were forced to train alongside men. We must pay tribute to their patience: it is difficult to imagine a place where the concentration of incorrect and sexist jokes is higher than in a collective of astronauts.

5. There are no racists among astronauts

Positive discrimination was reflected in all areas of American life. NASA was no exception, seeking to include women and African Americans in the Space Shuttle program. There was no discrimination on the basis of race within the crew: a different color of the astronaut's skin served as a ground for harmless jokes, but not at all for hostility.

Guyon Bluford is the first black astronaut to be in space. African American candidates who did not qualify to participate in the first flights of the Space Shuttle were disappointed not only by this fact, but also by the fact that they did not receive the title of "first black astronaut."

“Riding a rocket. Outrageous Shuttle Astronaut Stories”is not a patriotic bravado about NASA space flights or a work of fiction designed to instill in young minds the dream of becoming an astronaut. Mullein does not smooth things over by openly criticizing the NASA directors and the administration of President George W. Bush.

Despite its documentary nature, the book is full of drama: the chapter describing the death of the Challenger shuttle and the author's impressions of what happened deserves special attention.

There are a little more than 500 people in the world who have flown into space. Memoirs left, perhaps, at least a hundred of them. And Mike Mullein's book is a memoir definitely worth reading.