The Daily Caller has published a piece that asks a pertinent question. That question is, now that the space shuttle program is over and there is no government run space flight program in sight, what is NASA going to do with its astronauts?
Rep. Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, is quoted as saying, "I firmly believe if we lose this talent, it won't be to another state or industry, but to another country."
Johnson is likely being overwrought. Russia has a very vigorous cosmonaut program and does not need to outsource it to unemployed American astronauts. Similarly, countries with nascent space programs such as China or India would prefer to train and fly their own nationals. At best, any ex NASA astronaut would find a job training or consulting for another country's space program.
Also, whether an astronaut is headed out the door of NASA depends on what kind he or she is. The Pilot Astronaut, who used to fly the space shuttle, would not have much to do and would likely seek other opportunities. Space flying opportunities will be limited to some of the commercial space companies such as SpaceX, but there are jobs in the executive suite or in consulting available for anyone with the job of astronaut on their resume. Academic, entrepreneurship, and even politics are other career possibilities, judging how former astronauts have handled their post NASA careers in the past.
Mission Specialists, scientists and engineers, will still fly on the International Space Station. With the completion of the shuttle program, the ISS is about to fulfill its potential as a microgravity research facility. Along those lines, if and when Bigelow Aerospace manages to deploy its private space station built of inflatable modules, NASA will have another venue to send researchers to.
But the bigger question is, if the United States is actually planning to send astronauts beyond low Earth orbit on voyages of exploration, how badly will the experience and talent now headed for the exits is going to be missed. To be sure, the mechanics of flying to the Moon or an asteroid will be different than those of flying a winged space craft to and from low Earth orbit, but the question is still pertinent.
The first man to fly the space shuttle as a command pilot was John Young, who had previously flown two Gemini missions and two Apollo missions. Other Apollo era astronauts who flew the shuttle included Jack Lousma, who had flown previously on a Skylab Mission, Ken Mattingly, who flew on Apollo 16, Vance Brand, who had flown on the Apollo-Soyuz test project, Paul Weitz, who had flown on a Skylab, and Owen Garriott, who had flown on a Skylab mission.
Having a small cadre of experienced space pilots was no doubt beneficial to getting the space shuttle program off the ground. Currently NASA does not even envision a piloted test flight of its space exploration system, planned to consist of a MPCV, formally known as Orion, and the heavy lift space launch system until 2021. It is entirely possible that NASA will not have any experienced pilot astronauts in its employ by then.
Of course one work around would be to hire commercial space pilots from one or more of the commercial space taxi services that NASA plans to have in operation by 2015. That would be something of an irony that NASA, which pioneered space flight, would have to turn to the private sector for the talent it will need to take the next step beyond low Earth orbit.
Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly.
