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Author
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Topic: Commander positions on NASA SpaceX flights
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SpaceBram Member Posts: 10 From: Belgium Registered: Mar 2017
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posted 02-04-2024 10:59 AM
For NASA flights with SpaceX, the commander of the mission is sometimes a rookie astronaut (like Zena Cardman for Crew 9), even when a more experienced astronaut is on the same crew. How does NASA select on commander positions nowadays? Anybody has any inside on this? |
Tom Member Posts: 1730 From: New York Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 02-04-2024 11:50 AM
While NASA manned flights always seemed to have the most "experienced" crew member assigned as mission commander (from Gemini through space shuttle), SpaceX has more often than not had a crew member assigned as commander that had less flight experience than other crew members. I believe it's because the Dragon spacecraft is more automated than previous spacecraft flown with a crew. |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 51809 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-04-2024 11:57 AM
I have raised this question a few times during interviews with the SpaceX crews and it seems to come down to several common factors: - NASA's perspective about the value (or maybe importance) of prior flight experience has changed by seeing first-time fliers live and work well aboard the space station, as well as conduct successful spacewalks together.
- [On edit, as Tom wrote] SpaceX designed the Dragon to be flown primarily by the on board computers and by the ground. The commander and other crew members only get involved in the case the other two systems fail, and even then their ability to take action is limited. Thus, the role of the commander is more focused on managing the crew (or as Raja Chari put it, coaching the crew), which is a skill that can be learned, if not mastered, on the ground.
- Some experienced astronauts would rather not serve as commander in favor of devoting more time to leading science, robotics or EVA tasks aboard the space station. So being passed over for command by someone with less spaceflight experience than you is not necessarily seen as a slight, but an opportunity.
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Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47a
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