11 Responses to “Hey NASA! Listen Up!”

1. 1.   Lab Lemming Says:
   November 14th, 2008 at 6:10 am

   I wonder who they think the thirteenth astronaut is?

2. 2.   Doug Says:
   November 14th, 2008 at 9:39 am

   Every comic comes equip with bonus jokes: the alt text and the subject line automatically suggested by “comments.” So “you may be wondering who the thirteenth person on the moon is. it’s t-rex! he left his wallet there once. it was by ACCIDENT.”

3. 3.   Sili Says:
   November 14th, 2008 at 1:59 pm

   But sausages are delicious!

4. 4.   jianying Says:
   November 14th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

   I think there’s a documentary on how women were trained for the moon missions but was not called to go.

5. 5.   Neil B Says:
   November 14th, 2008 at 3:39 pm

   Yeah, women were just not taken seriously in the 60s. (And BTW, the “Movement” that was pushing for more civil rights, ecology, anti-war etc. had many leaders also contemptuous of women taking big strides. Look up the history.) I don’t know when the first Asian made it. However, a black astronaut was picked way back on June 30, 1967! Sadly few of the general public know of him. That is partly because he died in a training flight and never went up. Check this out, but I think there is an error (Bluford was the first black American up, but a Cuban went before him – see below):

   http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmfirsts.html

   First astronaut:
   Robert H. Lawrence, Jr., 1967, was the first black astronaut, but he died in a plane crash during a training flight and never made it into space. Guion Bluford, 1983, became the first black astronaut to travel in space; Mae Jemison, 1992, became the first black female astronaut. Frederick D. Gregory, 1998, was the first African-American shuttle commander.

   But here’s a better rundown from a board, at http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question86253.html:

   
   cag1970

   Let’s straighten this out:

   Captain Edward Dwight (USAF) was the first black person to train as an astronaut. He trained from 1962 to 1966, but was never designated to a specific program. He’s made his living as an artist and monument sculptor since then.

   Major Robert H. Lawrence (USAF) was the first black person to be assigned to a specific space program–specifically, the Air Force’s Manned Orbital Laboratory program (successor to the X-20 program).

   Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez (Cuba) was the first person of African ancestory AND the first Hispanic speaker to travel in space. He flew with Yuri Romanenko on Soyuz 38 September 18-26, 1980.

   As a matter of course, neither Dwight nor Lawrence qualify as astronauts, under the definitions of the FAI, NASA or the US military. Dwight and Lawrence were, more correctly, astronaut-candidates. Tamayo Méndez is considered a cosmonaut, techincally, because he traveled on board a Soviet spacecraft. But his flight into space predated Bluford’s journey on board STS-8 by almost three years.

   http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=157

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnaldo_Tamayo-Mendez

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Henry_Lawrence%2C_Jr.

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut#Insignia
   

   Sep 22 07, 9:22 PM
   [end quote]

6. 6.   mk Says:
   November 14th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

   Now that’s the best reason yet for going back to the moon! Because women have never been there!

   Heh.

7. 7.   Julianne Says:
   November 14th, 2008 at 9:22 pm

   Dude, it’s a cartoon about dinosaurs. Not to be confused with official CV policy.

8. 8.   Yvette Says:
   November 14th, 2008 at 11:32 pm

   I want that shirt. That is all.

9. 9.   mk Says:
   November 15th, 2008 at 8:57 am

   Apologies, Julianne.

   For a second I thought I was at Bad Astronomy! ;^}

10. 10.   DavidMcMahon Says:
    November 15th, 2008 at 10:16 am

    At the start anyway, they got all their astronauts from fighter pilots. Of course in those days they were all men. I think Harrison Schmidt (a geologist) was the first non-military person and scientist sent on a space mission.

11. 11.   Neil B Says:
    November 18th, 2008 at 10:02 am

    Just for the record and to clarify: the topic cartoon was about astronauts who landed on the Moon, but I made a segue into the issue of minority astronauts in general. As for returning to the Moon: I don’t think it is worth spending all that money for that or for going to Mars – in the foreseeable future, given all the troubles we are having now. Just maybe, if it was a full international effort it could be worth it for the cooperative benefits.