What Does it Mean to Be a NASA Astronaut in the Celebrity Space Age of Elon Musk and Richard Branson?
From idolized to anonymous, what it means to be an American astronaut is changing once more
By Christian Davenport
The journey to outer space for American astronauts for the past seven years has begun at a Soviet-era launch site in Kazakhstan, deep in Central Asia. There, they pay homage to Russian cosmonauts and graciously participate in the rituals of their hosts, even the tradition of urinating on the right rear tire of the bus that ferries them to the rocket.
The landscape is barren and desiccated, resembling the moon or some distant celestial body, a reminder that the astronauts are a long way from Cape Canaveral.
Now, human space flight is returning to the place where the American Space Age was born.
As soon as this year, NASA expects to end its reliance on Russia and launch American pilots from U.S. soil for the first time since the final shuttle mission in 2011. But this time, the astronauts will fly on rockets unlike any NASA has ever seen — built and operated by companies trying to turn spaceflight into a sustainable business.
