Too tall to be an astronaut?

[fatal291]

Ok I read that to be an astronaut you have to be within 5'4 amd 6'4.. I think I'm a little over that. Am I out of luck? What is the weight requirement also if their is one?

 

[qso1]

Fatal291:<br />http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/features/F_Astronaut_Requirements.html<br /><br />6' 4" seems to be the max height but even if you put an app in tommorow, your chances of becoming an astronaut for the shuttle program are practically zero with only 16 flights left to retirement. The VSE program requirements have yet to be defined but I suspect they will run similar to Apollo and may actually lower the height limit by as much as 2 inches.<br /><br />I think the weight is more or less defined by body mass index rather than a fixed maximum. If BMI is optimal, the weight will only reach a certain value that would not be exceeded without buffing up to Swarzenneger size. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

Buffing up to Schwartzenegger size might also make a person ineligible, at least for EVAs. The blaze-orange suits worn on ascent and reentry are custom-made (I believe) for each astronaut, but the EMUs (spacesuits for EVAs) are far too expensive for that. They are made in modules, available in a range of sizes, which are then assembled to fit the astronaut. There is a limit to the chest sizes that can be accomodated.<br /><br />I seem to recall reading of one case where an EVA almost had to be cancelled because the astronaut was having trouble fitting into the hard upper torso of the EMU after his chest expanded in zero Gs. And of course there was an American astronaut aboard Mir (can't remember which one) who only barely fit under the maximum height for Soyuz who had a bit of a scare when his spine lengthened in space and he almost couldn't get back into his Sokol suit (custom-built suit for launch and reentry aboard Soyuz). They shoehorned him in there somehow.... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[Boris_Badenov]

That leaves me out, fat, handicapped & 6'5". <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#993300"><span class="body"><font size="2" color="#3366ff"><div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div></font></span></font> </div>