USA Today: NASA cuts astronauts down to size

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So what's the story...
All I get is: we don't know if there are design requirements that may change the size requirements even though we are designing it as flexible as we can.

I'm sure it's important to note, but not a story by itself. (IMO of course)

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As long as they don't need to stick exclusively to midget sized astronauts...

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It's a good idea. Too many people look down on midgets.

Well, we could go back to the Mercury days when the astronauts were all under 5'11".

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I consider five foot eleven to be quite tall. But then my mother did suffer from Glutia terra proxima.

True, but it may be a tad bit overkill to climb 385.000 km up if you want people to look up at you for a change. Besides, some action group is bound to turn up that will call this nothing more than HLLV rocket assisted tossing the dwarf contests.

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The moment you need to be taller than the maximum allowed astronaut size to be allowed into a rollercoaster, you know something isn't right.

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The United States has always maintained its lead in space technology through miniturization. I see no reason why this shouldn't apply to astronauts as well.

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Exactly ToSeek. I do believe that Austin Powers has shown us the way of the future.

I mean just imagine how much further advanced human space flight would be if every mission had used midgets? Imagine the extra payload, the longer missions, the higher altitudes that could have been obtained. The Apollo budget could have included moonlandings and a moon base.

Perhaps there is a reason why close encounters of the third kind often involve LITTLE green men? Maybe the aliens know what they are doing and are taking practical steps to reduce payload.

Eh...

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may, you're 3 for 3 on this thread

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I think he means included a moon base in addtion to landings... ?

CJSF

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Probably, but let's just all stick at labeling Ronald Brak a hardcore HB, shall we.

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Since legs are useless in the weightlessness of space, we could solve height and weight restriction issues in one clean stroke.





Well, two strokes, maybe.

Hmm; I think I saw a discussion go this route before. Oh yeah... Over here

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Or



Courtesy of Mike Hodel's Hour 25

(Hoping he can get away with a hotlink if he throws an ad in as well. The site does have a bunch of cool space and sf stuff.)

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From that discussion:
I don't know about that. I think plenty of people would give up their legs to be the first person to set foot on another plan--. . .





Never mind.

On a perfectly serious note, a passenger of mass 35 kg in a Mars-bound spacecraft would require roughly half the oxygen, water and food of a passenger of mass 70 kg. The savings in consumables could be significant for a journey of man