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I've heard the same stories from serious applicants to the astronaut program. A major problem they cite: living in Houston for N years, doing training, waiting to fly.

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NASA still has far more astronauts than they need. They had about 140 at peak. NASA still has just under 50, despite lacking a launch system. All they do now is rotate people through the ISS, launching from Russia. Since the Shuttle was retired, there's not much work in space.

The remaining astronauts get stuck with jobs such as "Lunch with an Astronaut".[1] It looks like none of the astronauts from the class of 2013 have been in space yet. Being an ex-astronaut is worse. A few years ago, NASA pulled ex-astronaut passes to NASA Houston, so they can't hang around there after quitting.

[1] https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/things-to-do/lunch-with-a...

Thank you for sharing that information Animats. Very relative to the original post. I haven't read that, so I will make the time to do so.

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