What makes an astronaut crack?

LA Times ^ | February 9, 2007 | Homer Hickam

[BunnySlippers]

I agree.

I don't understand the propensity to navel gaze here. She became obesessed and did something criminal. Her occupation is not the issue.

[outofstyle]

I think a person's character and personality is separate from the body of knowledge they hold in their head.

I agree with that. The point I was trying to make is that these people were thought to be selected with "personality" as a factor as well. They invest a great deal of money and effort in order to select individuals who will make correct and logical choices under the most extreme circumstances.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

I agree with that. The point I was trying to make is that these people were thought to be selected with "personality" as a factor as well. They invest a great deal of money and effort in order to select individuals who will make correct and logical choices under the most extreme circumstances.

A related personal anecdote:

I was eating lunch with some retired nuclear submarine officers currently working as civilian engineers at Lockheed Martin's nuclear submarine facility in Syracuse NY. While discussing the movie "Crimson Tide" these retired "boomers" were emphatic that the commander never would do what the movie depicted.

I chimed in and said: "you never know when one will become a loose cannon". There was stunned silence. Then one of them said very emphatically "there are no loose cannons in the nuclear navy. By the time they reach command rank they have been thoroughly vetted."

I got the distinct impression from the entire group that I had committed some kind of blasphemy.

[RightWhale]

Is this the first astronaut to 'crack'? Bet it isn't.

[MinuteGal]

"What makes an astronaut crack?"

Somebody entered her O-zone.

Leni

[Yaelle]

What makes an astronaut crack?

Depends.

Hilarious! And post #2. Do you write for Jay Leno? You're quick!

[WashingtonSource]

Thank you for noticing what almost no one else has noticed. Putting women into the astronaut program was bound to produce the results we see today -- eventually. No one seems to have the common sense to see this coming or understand why it happened.

[Richard Kimball]

You either stole that or you've got a LOT of spare time. Funneee.

[Fitzcarraldo]

A $500 million cut in the NASA budget?

[outofstyle]

there are no loose cannons in the nuclear navy. By the time they reach command rank they have been thoroughly vetted.

This incident shows that NASA's vetting process is not perfect. No process can be. However, I have to believe that there are at least some people who, though they may fail, will not crack under any pressure.

[Fitzcarraldo]

In the case of Oefelein and Nowak I think the best advice is "don't dip your pen in company ink", ESPECIALLY in the astronaut corps.

If they want to romance each other, one or the other should've got a different job. That's just me speaking as an American taxpayer.

[Scotswife]

"I agree with that. The point I was trying to make is that these people were thought to be selected with "personality" as a factor as well. They invest a great deal of money and effort in order to select individuals who will make correct and logical choices under the most extreme circumstances."

I suppose it's possibe then to test a person's personality for the specific conditions required of an astronaut...but possibly miss the boat in testing how that same person responds to personal turmoil in their lovelife?

[muawiyah]

This is hardly a case of "character", whatever that might be.

She went into space this last summer. She came back. Numerous scientific papers available on the net will inform you that your T-Cells "shut off" during weightlessness in space.

The T-Cells "turn on" once the astronaut re-enters Earth's field of gravity (that is, once they are no longer in free-fall).

There are a myriad of gene caused auto-immune diseases, all of which are mediated by the T-cells. Some of them such as Celiac Syndrome (gluten intolerance) remain dormant, but they can be triggered by surgery or maybe trips into space. If that happens and the victim decides to eat an extra large pizza, or a piece of breaded chicken, the T-cells could mount a massive attack on the victim's small intestine.

Out of the 30 some symptoms of Celiac, the news has reported that this woman has at least half of them right down to the need for Depends.

She could have also developed an auto-immune attack on her liver if she had any one of 85 different alleles known to exist for one generalized form of porphyria (half of the alleles involve rapid onset of psychosis once the T-cells in the liver are fired up.

Right now this situation is funny. Once you and I get to pay for this woman's lifetime disability retirement as well as her medical care it will become more serious.

Evaluation of an individual's genome can help filter such folks out of the loop of space travel.

[M Kehoe]

What makes an astronaut crack?

Flying upside down naked?

Bah dah bing.

5.56mm

[monkapotamus]

"Evaluation of an individual's genome can help filter such folks out of the loop of space travel."

[Scotswife]

An interesting post, and no - I'm not aware of what bodily functions turn on and off due to space trips.

It will be interesting to see what information comes from this as they continue to look into her case.

[Rte66]

First active-duty one to be charged with a felony.

[Rte66]

Omigosh, it took me this long and that many repetitions to catch on to the post about "poon." LOL

[cgbg]

female..engineer..total fruitcake

The two craziest women I know are a pharmacist (well, former--they finally caught her stealing oxycontin for personal use) and an architect.

In both cases you could tell they were nuts within thirty seconds of meeting them--the only reason I (rarely) associate with either is one is a relative and one is a (hapless) friend's wife. :-)

[cgbg]

"there are no loose cannons in the nuclear navy"

Interesting post--sounds like it is time for a psych. eval. of all nuclear navy officers. :-)

Self-confidence is good but arrogance is on the down-hill slope to stupidity.