Would aspies make good astronauts?

Post Reply New Topic

As a few of you know, I plan on applying to be an astronaut (although I am not counting on being accepted). I did a bit of research and it turns out that no diagnosed autistic person has ever been to space, and that got me thinking about why.

There are definitely some pros of an astronaut being autistic. One rather obvious one is not losing sanity very quickly when alone. I would be like Fred Randall from Rocket Man!


♪"John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt!"♪

I would also be better at hyperfocusing on the task at hand, especially because space travel is one of my main special interests.

There are a lot of cons though. My motor skills aren't the best (again like Fred Randell), I have a really bad prospective memory, and my sensory issues might be a bit of a probelem. Meltdowns and shutdowns could be a probelem, but I have that mostly under control at this point and I doubt I could reach the nesesary stress level when I am doing something that I have been obsessing about for most of my life.

I'm not fooling myself here, I know that the odds of me becoming an astronaut are slim. It's better then the 0% chance of becoming an astronaut if I don't apply though. If I don't become an astronaut then I still do plan on working for a space agency but as part of the ground crew and I will be more like Rich Purnell from The Martian.



That's not such a bad fate if I do say so. Also, I'm counting on the private sector to make space travel more accessable because that would give me another way to persue my dream of gonig to space.

So do you think that aspies would make good astronauts?

I imagine there are a lot of Astronauts on the spectrum.

I don't think there's any reason that an aspie would be have less of a chance than an NT.

Very few people have what it takes. I know that I don't, and that I wouldn't want to be an astronaut, either.

You have a passion for it, and I don't see why you shouldn't at least try. You won't ever have a chance if you don't go for it. And if there's never been a diagnosed autistic person in space, it's likely because relatively few people have been in space, and possibly also because there are perhaps some who did and were never diagnosed.

In fact, why would you want to be diagnosed if you were an astronaut? To give them an excuse to abort your career as one?

Why would a diagnosis abort a career? There are many fine qualities that an Aspie would bring. As said before, why not try? Being defeatist only leads to not doing anything. Everything has a downside as well as upside.

Go for it OP!!

That's what I thought too, but all the sources I found said otherwise. It could be that aspies have been to space but they just weren't diagnosed, which would make sense considering how new the science of autism is.

Also, hi Alex! I love your website


I definitely will. Worst case scenario, I become qualified to be an astronaut and instead persue my other dream job of becoming an aerospace engineer for a space agency.

I can see that my post sounded a bit pessimistic, that was not my intention.

I took it as a query and musings...maybe just needed to bounce it around in the open a bit. Nothing wrong with that. Positive reinforcement is very good to have. And, it seems you got plenty of it happening here

i don't think it makes a significant difference, whether on or off spectrum.

you have a tremendous challenge ahead of you, and i'm going to say that no amount of obsessing can prepare you 100 percent for the actual experience of being launched into space.

do you have more specific plans in the space field?

i think you may make news if you do make it as the first actual aspie actronaut. the kind of news that people actually like hearing.

Yes. I plan on majoring in physics and I will become as educated as I can on the topic. I will learn Russian because all ISS astronauts must be fluent in both English and Russian, and if I already knew both then NASA wouldn't have to spend money to teach me. I also plan on becoming a pilot, and I might work for NASA as an engineer for a while before I even apply to be an astronaut. If NASA rejects me then maybe the ESA would be in the market for someone like me, and maybe the private sector will need some pilots to shuttle space tourists about. There is also no rule against applying multiple times. I already know orbital mechanics very well, and I have become a very good pilot in space flight simulators like this one.


Given how active NASA has been in the media lately, I would be supprised if that didn't happen.

I do have the same last name as one of the 12 people who walked on the Moon, that must count for something right?

Being on a pessimistic side
1. Sensory issues as you already mentioned.
2. Lack of social imagination; you may now think you'll feel great while being on your own but only when it happens and you won't be able to change anything you will realize that those brief, everyday contact with people is what you need for your sanity even more than NTs do, as they are better at 'emotional regulation'.

But by no means try, you may succeed and even if you don't, you will learn a lot. Good luck

He won't be all alone up there but usually with a team of people, right?

For myself it would be hard to quickly process long complex instructions because of bad working-memory and dyslexia. But I have no problem with solitude, am technical, precise and learn rules and routine easily, letting them go when something is goes wrong might be a problem tho, lol...

I heard that Neil Armstrong was probably a bit aspie too, he described himself ass
http://gizmodo.com/neil-armstrongs-amaz ... 1556037186

I would love to be astronaut too and play a lot in KSP

Well..

I would not state "I am autistic" on the resume you're sending to NASA.

But I think its likely that both extremes: folks suited to be astronauts, and folks least suited to be astronauts would include aspies.

Solitude, and routine, are things aspies are known to be able to put up with.

But some aspies are outdoorsy hermit prospector types, or nature types who dont take well to life in tin can traveling through a vacuum.

Well, I think you have to fit strict criteria to become an astronaut. Given that I think you have to of been an airforce pilot or something already in order to become an astronaut and that AS people would not be allowed to be in military, people with Asperger's would already screened out as possible astronaut candidates.

After all, you do not need to brag that you had Asperger syndrome;-)

From what I know they were astronauts Asperger Syndrome
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Nowak