No deaf astronauts?

Sheila, if you want to become an astronaut, go for it!
 
sheila022 said:
Hey guys, I'm curious if you or anyone know if there are deaf astronauts or something like an astronaut, especially for the CI-wearing astronauts.

Google came up with nothing, so I'm guessing there is probably no deaf astronauts? Maybe there's no deaf astronauts because the hearing aids/cochlear implant might be not able to handle the environmental demands imposed on the internal/external processor. Also, I guess there's the issue of communication back to Earth or some control tower? :hmm:

I'm also wondering if it is possible to experience zero gravity in a space shuttle/aircraft while wearing CI? :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:
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:lol: When we first looked into the CI, I asked our to-be surgeon whether or not the pressurization would be an issue in space, if we were precluding a career with NASA (I so wanted to be an astronaut as a kid .... umm, actually, long after). Never got a definitive answer! But this article describes the cochlear implant as a NASA development -- this was news to me. Still don't know if there's any issue with the technology being used in space activities. Go for it, Sheila!!
 
Reba said:
I too, support the space program. I've been interested in it since I was a child in the 1950's. My dad was an electrical engineer working for NASA during the early program years. It was an exciting time. :)
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Ah those were the good years for NASA eventually leading up to the Golden Era of Space Exploration. I look forward to the day we return to the moon. I had an uncle that also worked with NASA projects through the military.
 
shel90 said:
Sheila, if you want to become an astronaut, go for it!
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GrendelQ said:
:lol: When we first looked into the CI, I asked our to-be surgeon whether or not the pressurization would be an issue in space, if we were precluding a career with NASA (I so wanted to be an astronaut as a kid .... umm, actually, long after). Never got a definitive answer! But this article describes the cochlear implant as a NASA development -- this was news to me. Still don't know if there's any issue with the technology being used in space activities. Go for it, Sheila!!
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That sounds appealing---to be an astronaut, but I'm not sure if I'll really pass the physical requirements, even with my CI?

But I still do want to be able to travel out in the space. I want the space to be more readily available to the masses--no more different than us flying the airplanes from one country to another country. One of my secret dreams is making interstellar travel or some kind of warp drive possible (and no, don't say it's impossible. You never know. Remember how the Wright brothers were told that flying was impossible?) :P
 
sheila022 said:
There's the Institute for Solider Nanotechnologies here at MIT who might be involved with that, and also, the MIT Museum features the possible skin-tight-ish space suit designed by a MIT professor here. If you come up to Boston, I can take you to the MIT Museum :) It's really cool to look at it.

Video - Sampling Mit At The Mit Museum The Future Of Human Spaceflight
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"how's my butt look?" :)

I'd say you'd have a better chance of becoming a mission specialist than being a non-commissioned officer in the military. However, I know there are waivers for the military if you cant pass a normal hearing test. The whole issue is safety but if you can convince someone higher up the branch that whatever position you're seeking wouldn't compromise the safety of others. With computers being smaller and more powerful I suspect there will be a practical implementation of speech to text devices and possibly ASL to speech/text to help facilitate communication and isn't as much of a "hindrance" for NASA operations. I sincerely believe there is a realistic chance for someone in our lifetime who is/"was" deaf that will be an astronaut. Specialize heavily in an area that NASA is looking for and hit the gym!
 
Dixie said:
Ah those were the good years for NASA eventually leading up to the Golden Era of Space Exploration. I look forward to the day we return to the moon. I had an uncle that also worked with NASA projects through the military.
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Why the moon? Why not go to Mars? :)

Dream big!
 
Daredevel7 said:
Why the moon? Why not go to Mars? :)

Dream big!
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Because I believe there is still more to learn about the moon from first-hand exploration. It would take about 8 months to reach Mars by modern space craft. Assuming they would spend a short time on the surface and have to relaunch from Mars and propel themselves back to Earth. This could easily be a long 16-18 month long journey. I don't know of any astronaut that has been in space for that length of time. Think of the muscles weakening from the lack of gravity. You would literally have to spend months in physical therapy upon return to regain your strength and learn to just to walk again. What would it do to your digestive system to not eat solid food for that length of time? I have a feeling while it's nice to dream big based upon technology but we need to take into consideration the physical limitations of what the human body can endure.
 
Dixie said:
Because I believe there is still more to learn about the moon from first-hand exploration. It would take about 8 months to reach Mars by modern space craft. Assuming they would spend a short time on the surface and have to relaunch from Mars and propel themselves back to Earth. This could easily be a long 16-18 month long journey. I don't know of any astronaut that has been in space for that length of time. Think of the muscles weakening from the lack of gravity. You would literally have to spend months in physical therapy upon return to regain your strength and learn to just to walk again. What would it do to your digestive system to not eat solid food for that length of time? I have a feeling while it's nice to dream big based upon technology but we need to take into consideration the physical limitations of what the human body can endure.
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Unless some kind of warp drive or space capable of approaching the speed of light is invented, then I'm sure we can go to Mars within minutes than months.....but warp drive technology......just wait for it to be possible one day in the future. xD
 
sheila022 said:
Hrm, so I guess the hearing test puts most of the deaf population out of the running to be an astronaut, if the test is the same as for military (Same reason why I can't join ROTC).

But, Google didn't say anything about a regular CI-wearing person going on a space shuttle/aircraft to experience weightlessness.
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YOU CAN'T JOIN ROTC?! Sound like a ground for lawsuit.
I was in JROTC all way through high school. Then I signed up for ROTC and start work out with them, and was going to join ROTC, however I was unable to make it to college for the next semester.
As far as I know, deaf are allows to join ROTC for two years, but after second years, you're require to sign a agreement to serve in the military once you graduate. That's when you'll be turned down.


Back to the topic, sorry but... We'll never see a deaf astronaut. There are just way too many competitions and they are always trying to cut people out for every small reasons to keep the number of candidate down so they can better train them as they get closer to being selected to undergo astronaut training.
 
sheila022 said:
Unless some kind of warp drive or space capable of approaching the speed of light is invented, then I'm sure we can go to Mars within minutes than months.....but warp drive technology......just wait for it to be possible one day in the future. xD
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We won't see that in our lifetime. Also let's not forget that Mars is not a stationary destination. It moves so the planning for such a journey would have to be begin years if not decades in advance to ensure that the journey is doable. They would have to wait until Earth is as close as it will get to Mars during this 1-2 year span that this mission will take place in. This is why we have sent robots to mars to begin with to see what the landscape looks like. One of those robots we have sent to Mars has died due to mechanical failures and the other was shut down upon mission completion. There are no immediate plans to send more Rovers to Mars at this time. I would like to see a robot fly to mars, gather soil samples, and jet back to Earth with the sample for scientists to examine and study.
 
Dixie said:
Because I believe there is still more to learn about the moon from first-hand exploration. It would take about 8 months to reach Mars by modern space craft. Assuming they would spend a short time on the surface and have to relaunch from Mars and propel themselves back to Earth. This could easily be a long 16-18 month long journey. I don't know of any astronaut that has been in space for that length of time. Think of the muscles weakening from the lack of gravity. You would literally have to spend months in physical therapy upon return to regain your strength and learn to just to walk again. What would it do to your digestive system to not eat solid food for that length of time? I have a feeling while it's nice to dream big based upon technology but we need to take into consideration the physical limitations of what the human body can endure.
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8 months is about right.. for the CURRENT technologies.

Check out nuclear engines. ;)

There has been at least one astronaut that has been in space for 1 year abroad the ISS. The exercises they do now on ISS help alleviate the weakening of the bone/muscles. However, they probably would need more than that to go to Mars.

Have faith in our space agency!
 
Daredevel7 said:
8 months is about right.. for the CURRENT technologies.

Check out nuclear engines. ;)

There has been at least one astronaut that has been in space for 1 year abroad the ISS. The exercises they do now on ISS help alleviate the weakening of the bone/muscles. However, they probably would need more than that to go to Mars.

Have faith in our space agency!
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Yes but you are looking at a possible 18 month tour and you are much much much further from Earth than the ISS so there would be no rescue ship to come save the astronauts if something were to go wrong such as what occurred on Apollo 13 where they had to make a new oxygen supply and had to reduce power in the ship to conserve enough energy to make it back to Earth and they didn't even make it to the moon!

Those warp speed technologies you talk about are decades away and likely will not see it in our lifetimes. As for nuclear power I don't know how this would work as the extreme heat of exiting and entering the Earth's atmosphere might cause an uncontrollable nuclear reaction that leads to a nuclear meltdown, this could be disastrous if it happens at high altitude as the nuclear air bubble could be spread to a wider area forcing an out of this world scale evacuation of civilians. Remember the Chernobyl incident? Now imagine that on a much wider scale. Is that a risk worth taking?
 
Dixie said:
Yes but you are looking at a possible 18 month tour and you are much much much further from Earth than the ISS so there would be no rescue ship to come save the astronauts if something were to go wrong such as what occurred on Apollo 13 where they had to make a new oxygen supply and had to reduce power in the ship to conserve enough energy to make it back to Earth and they didn't even make it to the moon!

Those warp speed technologies you talk about are decades away and likely will not see it in our lifetimes. As for nuclear power I don't know how this would work as the extreme heat of exiting and entering the Earth's atmosphere might cause an uncontrollable nuclear reaction that leads to a nuclear meltdown, this could be disastrous if it happens at high altitude as the nuclear air bubble could be spread to a wider area forcing an out of this world scale evacuation of civilians. Remember the Chernobyl incident? Now imagine that on a much wider scale. Is that a risk worth taking?
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I didn't talk about warp technologies. That was Sheila. I think she's a huge Star Trek fan. :)

Nuclear engines would be used in space. Not for launching. Also, nuclear power is much safer now, especially here in America. We have over 100 active nuclear power plants and no incidents. I believe that we need to get over the stigma of nuclear power and start taking advantage of it.
 
Daredevel7 said:
I didn't talk about warp technologies. That was Sheila. I think she's a huge Star Trek fan. :)

Nuclear engines would be used in space. Not for launching. Also, nuclear power is much safer now, especially here in America. We have over 100 active nuclear power plants and no incidents. I believe that we need to get over the stigma of nuclear power and start taking advantage of it.
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I am not afraid of nuclear power, I live about an hour away from a nuclear reactor plant that generates the electricity that I use. It generates so much power that Arkansas actually sells this extra electricity to parts of Oklahoma and parts of Louisiana I believe. It is not the nuclear energy I am afraid of, it's the nuclear reactors chances of overheating during the space shuttles exit and re-entry in the atmosphere which reaches temperatures of 1,500 degrees Celsius or more during reentry. This can cause an uncontrollable nuclear reaction in mid-air with nothing available to stop it. No cooling tower, no cooling rods, nothing. Even if the nuclear reactor is not used for rocket engines, it may be used to generate electricity to power the ship. However nuclear reactors don't come cheap and definitely do not come in compact size. That is something to consider.
 
Well once I read about how some sciencist are trying to come up with a device that they can send to mars. This device would process some chemical and make it into a fuel. Then that way the rocket could travel with only half amount of the necessary fuel and once the rocket land, the rocket can refuel there then leave.
However... I wonder who would volunteer for such thing? I know I'd not wanna to go there only to find out that there was a error that won't allows me to refuel the rocket lol
 
If I had no plans to start a family, I'd probably consider the one-way trip to mars.
 
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