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On 2002-03-28 05:27, Argos wrote:
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On 2002-03-27 09:08, SeanF wrote:
There are lots of other physical and mental requirements for being an astronaut
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Do you mean that Laika, the first living being in space, had special talents? I don't think so.
Astronauts are normal people. Say the contrary and you will imply that they are super-men (or super-persons). I don't want to consider myself an inferior person because I did not fly at 300 km altitude. An astronaut is only somebody who had a chance to do that kind of job. There's just nothing to it.
By the way, they used to say the same about the primeval sea men and airplane pilots. Now the world is just choke full of them. And I can assure you there is nothing special in them.
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It is probably reasonable to suggest that NASA could successfully send less qualified people into space than it does. We end up sending such good people because so many people want to do it, so you can pick the very best. Still, I find most astronauts pretty impressive, fulfilling the "sound mind in a sound body" maxim. We're talking about the sort of people capable of doing original scientific research
and of running a marathon. So I would argue that they are exceptional.
The analogy to Laika is bogus: Laika was just a passenger. Every astronaut that flies has a serious job to do.
The analogy to early seamen and airmen is kind of bogus, too: thanks to modern technology, ships and planes are much, much easier to fly these days.