Posts: 1581
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007

posted 10-10-2020 09:04 AM               

---

I count five astronauts on active flight status who have passed their 60th birthday.

• Don Pettit: 65
  
• Jeff Williams: 62
  
• Michael Barratt: 61
  
• Doug Wheelock: 60
  
• Tom Marshburn: 60

Only Marshburn is (unofficially) assigned to a mission (Dragon Crew-3). He'll be 61 when it launches.

With the current roster of filled crew positions, Don Pettit would probably be 67 before being launched on another flight. Does NASA have an age cutoff point, or is it simply a matter of being able to meet all the medical requirements to be eligible for assignment?

Posts: 3219
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 10-10-2020 09:26 AM            

---

I don't know what NASA's current policy is, but it surely must be based on physical and mental ability to do the job. Everybody involved in job selection nowadays seems terrified of even a hint, never mind an actual allegation, of any form of discrimination of any kind whatsoever, so I find it hard to believe that NASA would want to be accused of ageism.

And, of course, with age comes experience and (one hopes!) wisdom. As with the "max Q" point in a rocket's ascent, there surely comes a point in every individual's life where rising age and experience meet declining physical and mental acuity. But I will leave it to the medical experts to indicate if that is the "sweet spot" when an astronaut is most useful, or the point at which he or she ought to hang up the helmet.

Posts: 44808
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 10-10-2020 10:44 AM               

---

NASA's astronaut selection criteria states "there are no age restrictions for the program."

Rather than age and in addition to general physical ability, my understanding is that the leading health concern for whether an experienced astronaut can fly again is radiation exposure. NASA sets limits for career exposure that increase as one gets older (as your age is a factor of the number of years you have to develop cancer).

Posts: 3219
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 10-10-2020 03:53 PM            

---

In other words, if you are old, but fit to fly, radiation exposure isn't so important because you have less time left to develop radiation sickness. That makes superficial sense, in a macabre sort of way.

In the same vein, if you needed people to handle blue asbestos, hire fit people in their 80s. It is very unlikely they would be around long enough to develop "long-tail" conditions like mesothelioma. However, I know a bit about asbestos but no so much about radiation, so it is perhaps better not to make direct comparisons.

Posts: 293
From:
Registered: Sep 2010

Posts: 1581
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007

Posts: 834
From: Ridgecrest, CA
Registered: Sep 2000

Posts: 293
From:
Registered: Sep 2010

Posts: 118
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2010

posted 10-13-2020 07:49 AM               

---

Six did seem to be the cap when Musgrave was going to fly STS-80, I suppose because of John Young hit that ceiling. I understood Ross and Chang-Diaz flew because they needed really experienced crew members to mentor the new generation.

In Ross' book (I think) he commented that once it was out he was flying STS-110, there seemed to be some hesitation within NASA somewhere (maybe it was not good for morale? A lot of unflown astronauts then) so he really got the idea that seven was yes, for sure, his last flight.

Interesting enough, just after that, Wilcutt lost a fifth flight and the reasoning was to make space for someone else in the 96 or 98 class to have their chance at command. It was clear there wouldn't be time/flights for pilots in the 2000 class to get in the commander seat.

Posts: 293
From:
Registered: Sep 2010

posted 10-13-2020 01:20 PM            

---

Young and that "ceiling" does not seem to apply the same way it did for Musgrave, since he was on track for a seventh flight (STS 61-J) before the loss of Challenger. His loss of that assignment seemed more tied to his reassignment to duties outside the Astronaut Office after the accident than his age or number of flights.

Interesting insights on Ross, although his and Chang-Diaz's seventh flights came shortly before the loss of Columbia. As noted, there became a press in the Astronaut Office to fly rookies before the shuttle was retired. While I doubt eighth flights were likely for either, the events of 2003 would have made it a pipe-dream. Flying even five times became rare at that point.

Posts: 29
From:
Registered: Mar 2010