To lose a human life is a tragedy, and it costs a lot to train an astronaut. But it costs many times more to minimize each and every risk to the astronaut. If we were to simply train astronauts in larger classes and accept that, say, 20% of them will die progress could be made much more quickly. There would still be no shortage of applicants and in the larger scheme of things rapid progress in space science would save many more lives. So why wasn't that the approach of the space program?
To lose a human life is a tragedy, and it costs a lot to train an astronaut. But it costs many times more to minimize each and every risk to the astronaut. If we were to simply train astronauts in larger classes and accept that, say, 20% of them will die progress could be made much more quickly. There would still be no shortage of applicants and in the larger scheme of things rapid progress in space science would save many more lives. So why wasn't that the approach of the space program?
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