posted 02-22-2008 10:31 AM               

Al Shepard was Rear Admiral but I don't think he ever returned to Navy duties.

posted 02-22-2008 10:32 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by johntosullivan:
Wiki says that Lt. Gen outranks Rear Admiral.

---

posted 02-22-2008 05:34 PM               

Before 1862 the title of Commodore was strickly honorary. It has of course been replaced by the new title "Rear Admiral Lower Half" which to me is a stupid title — call it commodore and be done with it.

posted 02-23-2008 06:40 PM               

Not that I am saying that the older astronauts didn't earn their higher ranks. But I recall reading there was a bit of a fallout when Al Shepard got promoted to Rear Admiral as the Navy was hoping to have him come back to fulfill some duties for them. But he opted to essentially retire without any additional active duty and created a bad taste in the mouths of the USN after that.

As I recall, Cernan wanted to go back to active duty after Apollo, so he could achieve his dream of being in command of a fighter squadron. But the Navy pretty much took out their wrath on the other astronauts by not allowing them any line commands and line commands were the path to higher ranks in the US Navy. So none of them got a chance to rise in rank much higher after ending their service with NASA as they didn't get the plumb assignments they hoped for.

The Air Force was a little more open, but nobody really stayed in too long as career military once they got back into their blues due to the enticements from the private sector.

posted 02-23-2008 09:59 PM               

Here is an example of how being an astronaut is weighed in a Navy promotion board (Commander in this case):

The Navy must focus on the skill sets mandated by current needs and to developing the professional competencies required in our future leadership. The Navy and joint force leadership needs to be comprised of a diverse blend of officers that have excelled in both traditional and specialized career paths. Give careful consideration to demonstrated performance and expertise in the competency/skill areas listed in order of significance below. For amplifying information, see reference (b) of my letter to the board president.

• Competitive Category: Unrestricted Line (11XX-13XX)
  
• Financial Management (FM)
  
• Joint Experience
  
• Operational Analysis (OA)
  
• Expeditionary Warfare
  
• Acquisition Corps
  
• C4 and Information Warfare / Operations
  
• Language, Regional Expertise and Culture Experience (LREC)
  
• Navy Operational Planner
  
• Naval Special Warfare Experience (NSW)
  
• Revolution in Training
  
• Integrated Joint Air Defense
  
• Shore Installation Management (SIM)
  
• Space Cadre
  
• Astronaut Consideration

Command at Sea Insignia was established to recognize the responsibility placed on officers who are in command of, or have successfully commanded ships, aviation squadrons, and other fleet units. Additionally, the Command at Sea Insignia has been extended to recognize the responsibility placed on Navy Astronauts who have been selected and successfully served as space shuttle/space station mission commanders.

posted 02-25-2008 12:14 PM               

I went up to pay courtesy calls to the navy after we got back, and John Warner was then Secretary of the Navy, and we made a courtesy call to him. He was all enthusiastic. He says, "You Navy guys need to come back, and we'll give you any job you want. You pick it. Whatever you'd like. You want a squadron? You want to do this? Just tell me. It's yours."

Boy, my eyes lit up, and I thought, "Wow." One of my escort officers was a captain in the Pentagon. He went back and told his boss, who was the Chief of Naval Aviation, what Warner had said, and very quickly I had an introduction to the Chief of Naval Aviation, who made sure that I understood that despite what the Secretary had said, in the environment we were in, I was not going to come in and take over his squadron. He'd find a place for me, he'd give me a useful job, but don't think that with the Vietnam War going on and people earning their positions the hard way, that I was going to walk in there and do that. He says, "The Secretary means well, but we run the show." [Laughs]

So armed with that piece of information that if I went back on real Navy duty, at that point I was probably not going to find a particularly rewarding job, and I thought the opportunity to get in on the Shuttle at the beginning and go use some of the experience we gained would be useful, so I told my sponsor I'd do whatever the Navy preferred I do. After all, they gave me my education and everything else that mattered. "So you tell me, but if I had a vote, I would say why don't I stay because the Shuttle Program's only going to take four years." That's what we were advertising. [Laughs] You know, four years, that's not all that long.

So after a significant amount of discussion within the Navy side of the Pentagon, they said, "Okay. Well, we agree. You probably can contribute more if you stay there."

Years later when I did go back on real Navy, one of the flag officers took me in and says, "There's a file you ought to see," and there was a letter in there from the officer who was in charge of monitoring the Navy astronauts, to the Chief of Naval Operations. It was a little two-thirds-of-a-page letter, and I don't remember the beginning two paragraphs, but the ending paragraphs says, "In summary, after laboring mightily, the elephants have created a mouse." These guys are not coming back. [Laughter] That memo didn't get published in too-wide circles.

posted 06-25-2017 10:08 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lewis007:
MOL astronaut James Abrahamson (who later became the first SDI 'Star Wars" director") was a Lt-General in the Air Force.

---

Ross-Nazzal: Were you following the Shuttle Program then as it was being designed and built?

Abrahamson: Oh, of course, of course. In fact, we would go down to Houston [Johnson Space Center] every so often and talk to some of our friends down there. When the [MOL] program was cancelled, the feeling at Headquarters was that NASA needed help. Here we were, a group of astronauts and some other technical people, program managers and others, who NASA could draw on. So Headquarters said, "We need you all. Why don't you come down to Houston?" Of course, all of us were thrilled with that idea.

The Astronaut Office, quite realistically, said, "No, a lot of our astronauts that we already have are never going to fly because the Shuttle Program is slipping and slipping and slipping, and therefore we are going to have a problem."

After the Headquarters and the Astronaut Office talked about this and argued back and forth, [it was decided], okay, anybody who was 36 [years old] or had turned 36 and over couldn't come. If you were 35 or under, you could. I had turned 36 about three months before the program. I went down there. I talked to everybody I could. I went to the Headquarters, talked to everybody I could. "Look, I can really help you. What's a few months to your rule? Can't you just move that?"

The answer I got was, "Well, wait a minute. Right behind you there's another one who's two more months and then another two or three months behind that." They finally said, "No, we are going to have to hold to the rule."

"Ross-Nazzal: Do you want to talk about the repair of Solar Max [satellite]?

Abrahamson: That was my last flight. I was very happy with the job at NASA. The only thing I was unhappy about is I couldn't fly in the machine. I was thinking about ways to try to get that approved time and time again, and Beggs would say, "No. It would be bad publicity. You're supposed to be the manager of this thing and responsible for safety and effectiveness, and not flying." I hated him for that, and, I mean, I love Jim Beggs, terrific guy"

"I flew the Air Force Reserve General in who was the Shuttle commander on the second flight, Joe [H.] Engle. He came with me and went out to Hughes, where they were building the satellites, and McDonnell Douglas and said, "We can go get those carcasses." They hadn't gone that far away from our orbit. It takes a terrible amount of energy to make an orbital plane change, just terrific amount of energy, so he thought we could do that.

Now, they didn't do that while I was still there, but I kept in touch with that. When they finally got around, and Joe was going to lead the mission to go do that, they did. Joe called me, and Joe was a particularly really good friend. Well, I loved every one of those guys and remained envious, of course. I still cry at night that I never got to go because of the whole thing.

posted 06-30-2017 04:31 PM               

I guess the "most senior" astronauts at the time of their space flights were John Glenn and Jake Garn (both US senators at the time of their STS missions), and Bill Nelson (member of the House of Representatives at the time; now a US senator).

Here's another bit of info: