Posts: 1505
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007

posted 01-04-2011 11:17 AM               

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I see that NASA has updated it's Astronaut Bios page for the new year, and made several observations:

• Marsha Ivins has apparently left the agency as her name has been moved to the Former Astronaut page.

• There is now a separate Management Astronaut page, and those listed "are no longer eligible for flight assignment." Some of the names now include:
  • Lee Archambault
    
  • Patrick Forrester
    
  • Kenneth Ham
    
  • Kay Hire
    
  • James Kelly
    
  • Stanley Love
    
  • Lee Morin
    
  • John Phillips
    
  • Andrew Thomas
    
  • Janice Voss

I know Ham recently moved over to the FCOD, and that Kelly was inactive, but Stan Love is a bit of a surprise. Some of the other names aren't surprising. Mike Good and Mike Foreman are listed, but they are on temporary non-astronaut assignment.

On the other hand, Mike Lopez-Alegria is still listed as active, although his bio still shows him at the FCOD. Interesting.

Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 01-04-2011 05:09 PM               

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I can understand NASA's desire to recognize its astronauts who have moved into management positions and adding the "no longer eligible for flight assignment" clause to their new page is helpful, but I think it still creates a source of confusion between "management" and "former" astronauts.

For example, Leland Melvin is listed as management, but he is a former astronaut (he left the Astronaut Office to accept the associate administrator position). Whereas (as mentioned above) Michael Foreman remains with the Astronaut Office but is on assignment to Glenn Research Center for one year.

On the same page, NASA also has astronauts who left the space agency altogether to later return, such as Michael Coats and Charlie Bolden.

It would really be helpful if NASA could create a single list of the astronauts who remain part of the Astronaut Office, regardless if they are on flight or management status.

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From: Houston, TX
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posted 01-06-2011 03:46 PM               

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Apparently, the "Management Astronauts" listed on that page are truly no longer eligible for flight assignments.

This may be due to their decision to move into management, or because they no longer meet the medical or program requirements to fly but remain with the space agency.

Astronauts who are serving in management positions but who may later qualify for future flights remain listed in the active list, e.g. Peggy Whitson and CJ Sturckow.

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posted 06-11-2011 09:43 AM               

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I noticed that several of the members of the 2009 Astronaut Class have been moved from the Astronaut Candidate to the Active Astronauts page, their bios indicating they completed the ASCAN program in May. Curious as to why only some names have been moved. And Mike Hopkins is still listed as an Astronaut Candidate even though he's been assigned to a flight.

Also, I noticed George Zamka is now listed on the Management Astronaut page.

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posted 10-30-2011 11:37 AM               

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Steve Robinson is now listed as a Management Astronaut. I remembering hearing him in an interview around STS-135 that he was "still hoping for my fifth flight." I guess that won't happen.

With no shuttle, I wonder what the new average flight career will be. 2, 3 flights?

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Posts: 586
From: Germany
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posted 07-13-2012 10:16 AM            

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Some astronauts are since longer time, management astronauts and not active astronauts. Does anyone know, since when (exact date ore month/year). The astronauts are: Clay Anderson, Michael Foreman, Michael Gernhardt, G.C.Johnson, Vegas Kelly, Bill McArthur, Lee Morin, and Terry Wilcutt.

Thank your for the help.

Editor's note: Threads merged.

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posted 01-03-2013 08:55 AM            

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Ron Garan is now listed as a Management Astronaut.

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Astronauts, Cosmonauts & their flights

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posted 08-10-2013 02:46 AM               

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Tracy Caldwell Dyson is still considered an active astronaut.

You can look that up here.

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posted 08-10-2013 10:40 AM               

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Michael Foale is listed as former astronaut.

Editor's note: See: Astronaut Michael Foale's post-NASA career.

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posted 01-09-2014 12:52 PM               

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I'm curious as to how someone like James Dutton winds up on management status. Or Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger. Both are relatively young with potentially many years left in their careers. They both flew only once. Is this a decision they make or is it made for them? And if they made that decision, why?

Did Mash Dutton walk in to Bob Behnken's office and say "I don't want to fly again but I'll stick around as a management astronaut and help out in another way"? Just seems rather unusual to me; they came in to this program supposedly to fly in space and to be removed from that prospect so early in their careers doesn't make sense. Unless there are other circumstances.

Also, do pilot astronauts in management status, like Steve Frick or James Kelly, still have T-38 flying privileges? I would guess not since they no longer need to maintain the skills needed to fly in space, i.e. flying jets. Just curious...

Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
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posted 01-09-2014 01:16 PM               

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Management astronauts do not retain T-38 privileges unless they are the director or deputy of flight crew operations.

Towards the end of the space shuttle program, then-chief astronaut Peggy Whitson instituted a steadfast rule: if you could not qualify to serve a long duration stay on the International Space Station, you would no longer remain in the active corps.

To qualify for ISS, an astronaut needs to meet three requirements: medical, robotics and extravehicular activity. If any one of those skills/qualifications cannot be met, they were either moved into management or decided to retire. (If the issue was medical and the condition was temporary, the status change could be temporary.)

You would have to ask individual astronauts why they made the transition as NASA won't say (in part due to medical privacy laws).

Posts: 358
From: Studio City CA USA
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posted 01-09-2014 01:47 PM               

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Dutton actually left JSC and the astronaut office in the late summer of 2012, and has been a professor of engineering and flight instructor at the Air Force Academy since then. So it wasn't a case of volunteering to do another job at JSC — he was gone, period. I suspect that he was carried as "management" because he still officially belonged to NASA — even though he was working for the USAF, where he is an active duty officer — through the end of 2013.

(As to why no further flights for relatively young astronauts, who knows? Personal, professional-career or medical reasons.)

And, as Robert says, management astronauts don't fly T-38s. Reducing the number of astronauts using aircraft is one of the reasons management status exists in the first place.

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From: Toms River, NJ
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posted 02-18-2014 10:12 AM               

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This article says Alvin Drew currently works as the NASA Liaison to Air Force Space Command, NORAD/US Northern Command and US Strategic Command.

Isn't that Michael Good's posting? Can there be two liaisons? If not, where is Good? Back at JSC?

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From: Brussels, Belgium
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posted 02-18-2014 03:41 PM               

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Michael Good already returned to Houston over a year ago. Or was it two years?

I think Jim Dutton had the job in the meantime, before switching to the Academy.

By past experience, it is a job for the reintroduction into the wild.

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posted 03-26-2014 09:58 AM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by Delta7:
I'm curious as to how someone like James Dutton winds up on management status. Or Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger.

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Dottie M-L doesn't plan on going back to space, according to a recent article.

On a side note, she's a singer in Max Q.

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