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Author
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Topic: Updates to NASA's astronaut status lists
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Delta7
Member Posts: 1637
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 05-08-2009 08:28 PM
   
NASA has re-designed it's Astronaut Biographies website. Among the changes: it no longer classifies astronauts as "Pilots" or "Mission Specialists", and separates out the formerly so-called "Management" astronauts who work in jobs outside of the office. |
danpal
Member Posts: 48
From: Roma, Italy
Registered: Feb 2003
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posted 05-09-2009 07:54 AM
There's a little error in the list of Former Astronauts: Kenneth D. Cameron and not Camereon. |
Flyboy7077
New Member Posts: 8
From: Fremont, CA
Registered: Jul 2008
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posted 05-09-2009 08:49 PM
It cracks me up that Brian O'Leary is still persona non grata after all this time. Gee NASA, maybe it's time to get over it, it was only a book! |
Max Q
Member Posts: 399
From: Whyalla South Australia
Registered: Mar 2007
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posted 05-10-2009 09:50 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Flyboy7077:
Gee NASA, maybe it's time to get over it, it was only a book!
Okay, this is probably the dumbest question of the year, but what book?
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danpal
Member Posts: 48
From: Roma, Italy
Registered: Feb 2003
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posted 05-10-2009 11:40 AM
The Making of an Ex-Astronaut, Brian O'Leary, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston 1970. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1637
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 05-10-2009 12:03 PM
I can't believe that O'Leary's book resulted in him being "blacklisted" by NASA. There's nothing in it to warrant such; it's simply about his brief experience in the astronaut office, and how back in the 60s it wasn't very conducive to using one's scientific abilities. Certainly Walt Cunningham's book has far more "juicier" tidbits about what went on back then, and he's not "banished" by NASA.Maybe O'Leary requested his bio be removed for whatever reason, or maybe there's some legal situation that caused it. I just can't believe NASA would be that petty, at least in such a publicly visible way. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 46019
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 05-10-2009 12:30 PM
It is my understanding that the book had nothing to do with his biography being omitted. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1637
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 05-10-2009 08:37 PM
From Wikipedia: In March 2001 O'Leary appeared briefly in Fox TV's "Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon," stating that "I can't say 100% for sure whether these men walked on the moon. It is possible that NASA could have covered it up, just in order to cut corners, and to be the first to allegedly go to the moon. Maybe that had something to do with it. And he IS living in Ecuador now.  |
GoesTo11
Member Posts: 1341
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 2004
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posted 01-28-2010 07:41 PM
While browsing through the JSC website's astronaut bio pages, I noticed something I found both curious and rather amusing: Of all the current and former astronauts listed, only Brian O'Leary's name is not linked to a biography page. Does anyone know of an official, or anecdotal, explanation for this? Is it simply that O'Leary's infamous memoir of his years at NASA made him persona non grata with the agency? And can we assume he's been airbrushed out of all the official photos, as well? Editor's note: Threads merged |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2484
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 01-30-2010 10:41 AM
Don't know if this helps but the 1971 edition of my booklet 'Manned Spaceflight' notes that Brian T. O'Leary, selected in August 1967 as an astronaut with a doctorate in astronomy, resigned in April 1968 for personal reasons. In the 1973 edition it was noted that he was at Cornell University where he was working on the Venus Fly-By. |
jasonelam
Member Posts: 693
From: Monticello, KY USA
Registered: Mar 2007
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posted 01-31-2010 01:03 AM
In the "Astronaut Fact Book" on the side of the main page, his information is in there. Interesting. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2484
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 01-31-2010 03:19 AM
Just found this on a site: He left NASA before an official biography was put together for his concurrence and signature on a NASA Privacy Act Form giving NASA permission to make his biography available to the public. Therefore, a biography was never posted online for him. The web site has this also - NASA EXPERIENCE: Brian O’Leary was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967. After completing a Ph.D. thesis on the physical properties of the Martian surface, O'Leary was specifically selected for a potential manned Mars mission when it was still in NASA's program plan. When that program was cancelled in 1968, he resigned from the astronaut program because of lack of prospects for a space flight. During the following decades, his relationship with NASA continued as an academic scientist in unmanned planetary exploration, advanced concepts for space manufacturing of non-terrestrial materials, formulating low-cost scenarios for joint U.S.-Soviet manned missions to Phobos and Mars, and helping NASA design a habitable space station. Most recently, he has investigated advanced antigravity propulsion and free energy concepts as an outside scientist. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1637
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 01-31-2010 10:31 AM
Actually, O'Leary by his own admission left the program after deciding that flying "just wasn't my cup of tea", and dropped out of the USAF flight training program in which he was enrolled (a requirement for non-pilot scientist-astronauts back then). |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2484
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 01-31-2010 10:37 AM
This begs the question, if flying is an integral part of being an astronaut, why did NASA select him in the first place? Surely, even as late as 1967, there was some screening in place for this. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1637
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 01-31-2010 12:28 PM
NASA came under some outside pressure to recruit scientists to the astronaut corps, and initially resisted. When they finally could no longer do so, they insisted that all scientist selectees be required to go through flight training and become proficient in flying the T-38 as sole pilot. NASA insisted on the flight training requirement, as space flight was considered above all else a FLYING endeavour, with science as a secondary consideration at every level. And they probably felt that the skills and discipline acquired through flight experience would have a direct benefit for those training to fly in space. The first 6 "Scientists-Astronauts" were selected in 1965. 2 already had flown jets in the military, and one dropped out shortly thereafter for personal reasons. The remaining 3 (Garriott, Gibson and Schmitt) were sent to USAF flight school for a year.Because of the results of that selection, and because more scientist-astronauts might be required for the Apollo Applications Program (and beyond), the decision was made to conduct a second scientist selection. Again, the flight training requirement was included. Of course, no sooner did that second group get selected than Deke Slayton informed them that, due to looming NASA budget cuts, they might never get to fly. As a result they named themselves the XS-11 (Excess Eleven). Eventually, some of them did get tired of waiting, while others stayed long enough to fly (15 years for the first ones to go up). Another, John Anthony Llewellyn, washed out of flight training and thus had to leave the astronaut office. In his book, O'Leary cites his frustration with this outlook on his prospects for a mission, the NASA bureaucracy and the amount of time he was being kept away from doing scientific research (which he didn't seem to expect would happen). His fear of flying was probably what finally made him decide to quit, the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back". He either wasn't aware of this fear before beginning flight training, or thought he could overcome it for the chance to fly in space. The death of C.C. Williams in a T-38 shortly after his selection also had a profound impact on him, according to O'Leary. He reasoned that if a seasoned pilot like C.C. could die in a jet crash, how much higher were the odds for someone like him? |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1637
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 05-11-2010 08:58 PM
I just noticed Brian O'Leary's official NASA biography is now included in NASA's Astronaut (Former) Biography page. |
issman1
Member Posts: 1077
From: UK
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 05-12-2010 12:35 AM
It was a odd (if not petty) thing to have kept Dr. O'Leary's bio in limbo for so long. |
hlbjr
Member Posts: 512
From: Delray Beach Florida USA
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 05-12-2010 02:33 PM
I doubt there's a conspiracy regarding O'Leary (who has clearly had more than his allotted 15 mins of fame on this board). I'm sure NASA has bigger fish to fry than blacklisting a guy who is but a footnote in their astronaut history. Like the prior post said, he wasn't around long enough to even have a biography that he could sign off so that (in my book) automatically moves him to the bottom of the "things to do" pile. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1637
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 04-17-2015 12:13 PM
Chris Cassidy's bio now says he is Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3452
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 05-19-2015 08:24 PM
Haven't gone through all of them (nor do I want to), but is Terry Virts' bio the only one available in PDF format, rather than as a straight web page? There's also a link to his Twitter account as well as to the site to download a high-res version of the portrait seen on his bio page. |
Robonaut
Member Posts: 259
From: Solihull, West Mids, England
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 05-20-2015 02:05 AM
There are others as well as Virts. Cassidy and Walker are two. Not all are in the new format but I presume NASA is heading in that direction slowly. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1637
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 07-07-2015 09:05 PM
Cady Coleman, Rick Mastracchio and Steve Swanson have joined the ranks of Management Astronauts. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1637
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 07-21-2015 06:43 PM
Dominic "Tony" Antonelli is now listed as a former astronaut. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1637
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 10-29-2015 05:36 PM
It looks like Stephanie Wilson has been moved from the Management to Active astronaut list. Interesting because I remember reading that the policy is once you go to management status you aren't eligible to go back to active status. |
Skylon
Member Posts: 303
From:
Registered: Sep 2010
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posted 10-31-2015 03:07 PM
I feel like that policy was bound to change as the flying of Commercial Crew got closer to reality. |
Michael Cassutt
Member Posts: 367
From: Studio City CA USA
Registered: Mar 2005
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posted 10-31-2015 06:31 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Delta7:
Interesting because I remember reading that the policy is once you go to management status you aren't eligible to go back to active status.
Yeah, policies change with new chief astronauts. Not too long ago I saw a Twitter post from Kevin Ford about logging his 5,000th hour as a pilot, having taken Patrick Forrester along. According to Whitson's policies circa 2011-12, neither should be flying a T-38 at all. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1637
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 04-21-2020 11:36 AM
In their official NASA biographies, Charles Camarda and Paul Richards are described as having retired from NASA in 2019 (although both are still listed on the Management Astronaut page). |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1637
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 07-20-2020 06:01 PM
Jeffrey Williams is now listed as a Management Astronaut. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1637
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 08-07-2020 02:47 PM
Williams is now back on the Active Astronaut page. |
brianjbradley
Member Posts: 128
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2010
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posted 10-04-2020 02:09 PM
Ricky Arnold has moved to the Management list on the JSC Bios website. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1637
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 10-04-2020 03:15 PM
According to his Twitter page he is now Director Of STEM Engagement at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. |
MSS
Member Posts: 856
From: Europe
Registered: May 2003
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posted 04-15-2021 06:32 PM
Jeff Williams was moved from "Active Astronauts" to "Management Astronauts" (April 12, 2021).Reid Wiseman is back to "Active Astronauts" (April 6, 2021). |
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