Early Astronauts - why so many were ...ahem..unbalanced?

[spacefire]

And I'm not talking about divorces here.<br />But: Buzz Aldrin went depressed after being the second man(instead of the first) on the Moon. It took him a long time to get over it. He's very candid about it in his autobiograpgy "Return to Earth"<br />Charlie Duke, in his autobiography (Moonwalker, I believe) claims being 'lifted from bed' by spirtiual entities. Basically towards the end his book become all about the paranormal, though it's tied in with his religious upbringing.<br />Gordo Cooper , in his autobiography 'Leap of Faith', again towards the end, talks about spaceships and alien visits.<br />What prompted these people, after their astronaut careers were over, to lose touch with reality?<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[drwayne]

"What prompted these people, after their astronaut careers were over, to lose touch with reality?"<br /><br />How do you know they did???? <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />A general observation, tangentially related to your question:<br /><br />To achieve success in a field such as this - in general, to be at the forefront of an activity requires that someone be somewhat of a three sigma personality to begin with. Such a level of commitment to excellence, commitment to a goal is not just the sort of superficial thing that we see on a successories calendar. Its the way that they are put together. To live on that edge is exceptional. Then, the need, the goal is not there. It is easy to me (a mediocrity to be sure) to see how this change can lead to the edge sensor to try to look for something new to search for. To begin to address the questions that we see over and over again, the "Is this really all there is?"<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[askold]

Weren't the Mercury astronauts all fighter pilots? That's got to be a pretty intense bunch of guys.

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow"> To begin to address the questions that we see over and over again, the "Is this really all there is?"</font>/i><br /><br />The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit</i>

 

[igorsboss]

<font color="yellow">What prompted these people, after their astronaut careers were over, to lose touch with reality?</font><br /><br />I've thought about this one before. I've had to deal with this over and over in my own life. I've finally realized that it is PERFECTLY NORMAL HUMAN BEHAVIOUR, in response to living a goal-based lifestyle.<br /><br />Goals are useful, but costly. Goals motivate us to achieve great things. However, the pursuit of a goal has some undesirable side effects:<br /><br />As we pursue a goal, we tend to belittle ourselves for not having achieved the goal yet. We tend to think in terms of being "behind schedule". To compensate, we begin to live an unbalanced life, focusing too intensly on the stated goal. We tend to "beat ourselves up" over an unreached goal. Getting there is hard work, and is seldom very much fun.<br /><br />...until one day... We reach our goal! Success! Jubilation! Fulfilment! Glory! ...for a brief, fleeting moment... and then...<br /><br />The "Post-Delta Blues" sets in. This little depression often naturally follows the achievement of a goal. The bigger the goal, the more the creative investment, the deeper the depression. It comes from not knowing what to do next! It is a kind of emptiness, a loss of usefulness. The same thing kills a lot of recently retired people.<br /><br />Apollo is my favorite example: JFK's goal was to "land a man on the moon, and return him safely to the Earth". We blew up a lot of rockets and killed a few astronauts along the way, while working like crazed madmen. It was very productive, but not very much fun. Then we did it, and had a few parades. Then what? WHAT COULD YOU DO THAT COULD POSSIBLY BE BETTER THAN LANDING ON THE MOON? Nothing! That's where the depression comes from.<br /><br />Now for the great lesson in life: Don't live your life this way! There is an alternative: the process-based lifestyle.<br /><br />Instead of setting goals, set a direction, and follow

 

[vogon13]

Is percentage of 'unbalanced' posters at SDC all that different?<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[tomnackid]

And Neil Armstrong is pretty much a recluse, although he always kept to himself even even in his milltary and school days.<br /><br />Think of it this way. The early astronauts were all celebrities whether they wanted to be or not. Look how most celebrities act! When you look at it that way even the goofiest astronaut (Duke!) looks calm and rational by comparison to say Tom Cruise!

 

[grooble]

Well you can't exactly top a moon landing. If you land on the moon and you don't have an even greater goal to strive toward after then you're gonna get depressed.<br /><br />Greater goals could be to establish permanent moon base / mars missions, explore the unknown regions of the oceans and more.

 

[siarad]

And setting goals that have no practical use is the worst kind like going to the moon & back, a gigantic letdown.<br /> Almost no-one to<i> really</i> talk to about it either, so here come the stories of aliens drifting by etc. as that goal has cut you off from most peoples experiences.

 

[abq_farside]

Very insightful - I am going to send this to people I know if you don't mind. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em><font size="1" color="#000080">Don't let who you are keep you from becoming who you want to be!</font></em></p> </div>

 

[igorsboss]

<font color="yellow">Very insightful - I am going to send this to people I know if you don't mind.</font><br /><br />Thank you very much. Here is some more on the subject...<br /><br />Living a process-oriented lifestyle has some excellent benefits:<br />1) All along the way, you can be proud of what you've already achieved, rather than beating yourself up for what you haven't done yet. <br />2) Milestones can be celebrated with as much enthusiasm as we do when we meet a goal.<br />3) Since milestones are not endpoints, we can eventually achieve more than we ever thought possible. (Example: the Wright brothers couldn't imagine how their first flights could lead to Mars landings.)<br /><br />Example: Happiness<br />The Goal "Be Happy!" leads me to this:<br />(1) I notice how sad I feel right now, because I'm not happy yet.<br />(2) I strive for the next moment when I can be happy again. (...to get my happiness fix)<br />(3) When that brief moment is over, I get sad again. (...until I figure out where my next happiness fix is coming from)<br /><br />The Process Question "How may I grow even happier?" leads me to this:<br />(1) I continuously acknowledge that I am somewhat happy now. (...even in the more dire circumstances!)<br />(2) I freely celebrate whatever joyous event I encounter, and<br />(3) I endeavor to increase my happiness in the future. (...even when I'm already exstatic!)<br /><br />My teammates and I (on the Microsoft OS/2 kernel develoment team) coined the term "Post Delta Blues" in the late 1980's. Whenever we would make a change to the master copy of the source code, we called that a "Delta". Doing a Delta always implies halting the creative process. The bigger the delta, the deeper the blues. I've gone through it over and over again.<br /><br />I learned the stuff about goals in 1992, and I've been applying it ever since. I learned it in a class called "Mastery", taught by a company called Context Associated. I recall the term "Path to Glory" being

 

[silylene old]

Perhaps while in space, the radiological brain damage from cosmic rays causes subtle personality changes?<br /><br />Here is a good reference on the subject (there are quite a few articles on this sbuject): http://www.lbl.gov/abc/cosmic/more/spacetravel.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>