Comment by SJC_Hacker
5 days ago
Astronauts are of a breed apart. They're strapped onto a literally bomb which launches them into a vacuum, and windows where there is no chance of a mission abort. They've pretty much accepted a risk of death that most would simply not tolerate. Ex-military is common for astronauts for a reason.
Not that it really changes the point but modern spacecraft do have an option to abort (begin returning to earth) at just about any time. There's still contingencies where that won't save you of course.
And that abort envolves another bomb being fired under or over you.
This is the reason I cringe every time I hear or read statements like “we went to the moon”, “we’ve split the atom”, “we developed antibiotics”, …
No, we didn’t. A few who are not like us did.
Not really, no. The point of the "we" is too highlight the incredible collective effort which was required from all these massive endeavors. It goes all the way from the steel cool astronaut to the great machinists which had to build the parts.
I think it's one of the greatest benefits of ever working on a massive industrial project. You quickly realize how incredibly complex these things are and how utterly powerless a person alone is.
Add to this all of us who pay taxes to subsidize the effort.
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ok you have reduced my cringe.
Going on a spaceship is probably safer than driving a car.
Per mile, sure.
Per launch? I think the "everyone died" rate is about, what, 1.2% of crewed launches?
Not a good sales pitch for commercial space flights
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Being an astronaut is about 50x more risky than riding in a car
You know what they say: the most dangerous part of space flight is the car ride to Cape Canaveral.
Over what time period?