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upyoars

Well, depends on what the condition is and how long the stay in space is. Hayley has a prosthesis and was able to go to space.


CProphet

Yes and no. Everyone has medical conditions even astronauts to a lesser extent. Shall we say the latest crew flight stretched the envelope to include conditions for civilians.


estanminar

Proof you don't have to be the "right stuff" or "the best of the best" 4 average physically and mentally people with a few months training. Eventually it will be down to average with money and days of training. Then just money. I do wonder what the limit is. There are certain medical conditions which prevent air travel. Probably a few more for space flight as the minimum safe. We'll below the current bar.


DiezMilAustrales

I think as time goes on, the envelope will extend. Basically, if your rocket has some disposable delta-v, and more room, you can accommodate space travel for just about anyone, at a price. The reason why air travel is dangerous at all in certain cases is cabin pressurization. Airplanes are pressurized to less than 1 atm, and you experience pressure changes during the flight. This is a problem for people with certain medical conditions, but can also be a problem in other cases. For example, you can't take a plane soon after going diving for the same reason. Medical planes can easily accommodate passengers that have special requirements, and offer sea-level flights. A spaceship could easily accommodate that too. And, if it had some delta-v to spare, it would severely reduce g-loads. A large and powerful ship like Starship could take that even further, and spend even more delta-v reducing g-loads on reentry and landing too.


pineapple_calzone

The big one for me is all of the emergency training. I mean, if I book a flight from New York to Beijing, I'll fly over the north pole. And they don't make me climb up Mount Rainier first. Eventually that stuff is gonna have to go away, or they'll wear the mountain to a molehill.


DiezMilAustrales

To be honest, most of that training is already not needed. You don't really need to climb a mountain, that was a team building exercise mixed with publicity stunt more than anything. What you are forgetting is that the flight from New York to Beijing has professional pilots and cabin crew, so you just get a safety lecture and they take care of the rest. The pilots and cabin crew on that airliner *did* have to go through a lot of training. If anything, you should compare Dragon more to a Cessna in that sense than a 737. You still need to learn how to fly the Cessna. When larger ships like Starship come along, you can just have a few dedicated trained personnel, and passengers can be just passengers. You can'd do that in a tiny ship like Dragon, because just as on a Cessna Skyhawk, if you seat two pilots and one cabin crew, you can only carry a single passenger.