He told us that this was his plan: First he had to get into the Academy, then major in engineering - ideally aeronautical engineering, then become a fighter pilot then become a test pilot and finally apply and become a NASA astronaut. I challenged him to be the first one in space, except I said that I would pay for a ride there as a tourist.
He ended up being the #1 grad from our class with his degree in aero engineering, went on to get his doctorate from Oxford and is now flying the B-1B. Still a few steps to go.
HOWEVER - there is almost no chance of him ever piloting a US spacecraft based largely on where the manned space program is. So while I am a little sad for him, given how hard he has been trying - it also makes our wager look more promising in my favor!
We certainly aren't there yet but my long term bet is that humans will be pushed further out of the loop for all things transportation - space travel being one of the main ones I would expect to transition first as it's basically there today anyway.
I personally do not think this is true. There are at least 5 spacecraft under development right now that would need pilots: NASA Orion, Boeing CST, SpaceX Dragon, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic. Even if some of these fold, it still seems likely that at least 2-3 spacecraft would need crews at the same time. This is on top of ISS crew commitments.
I think we're in a lull right this minute, as we were after Apollo, but I think it's easy to mistake that for the future. If your friend will be still be in flying shape in 5-10-15 years, I predict there will be a number of opportunities to fly into space.
I do wonder about the future of non-pilot, non-engineer astronauts. Aside from the ISS, all the craft flying or under development would seem to demand a small crew of engineers. As opposed to the Space Shuttle program, which had enough seats for teachers, chemists, etc. to qualify and fly. For example a woman I knew in college flew on the Space Shuttle with a bachelor of geology and a few years teaching high school.
NASA has far too many astronauts now; they've been laying them off. They're now down to 42 active astronauts[1], from a peak of around 130. One ex-astronaut was grumbling publicly that his pass to NASA Houston had been pulled. Ex-astronauts used to be allowed in for life. Not any more.
After all, NASA has nothing for them to pilot.
Space-X, though...
I thought this was going to be an inspiring 'to do' list of candidates & application processes. Just being selected with no mention of reasoning or criteria was kind of a let down.
Its written in a little more informal context than a to-do list, but it does describe what he (and his family!!!) had to go through.
Brilliant read!
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Astronauts-Guide-Life-Earth-Determinat...
An acquintance of an acquintance was an astronaut for a decade (I heard of him in early 2000s) and never got to fly anywhere until then.
I guess that astronauts this days are mostly researchers in a very high and fast laboratory, but above all they are PR's for the 95% of their career, at least in Europe.
Obviously with my laughable resume I was weeded out in the first screening.
Assume that 1M$ is what you will need to get into space. It takes some flair and some favorable conditions, but I think that ~0.1 to 1% of the population can get 1M$. Much less than 0.1% of the population is selected by NASA to go to space.
Here is Cady doing a duet in space with a member of Jethro Tull:
[1]http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/featu...
Looks like that train has sailed. :-)
