The other night in my introductory psychology class, the topic was “Personality”. We talked about different ways of “measuring” personality, such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Our professor mentioned that this kind of test is often administered to individuals who are working towards public service, either as police officers, fire fighters, teachers, etc.
Naturally when this news story was mentioned by Robin Quivers on Howard Stern the next day, I couldn’t help but wonder how this woman slipped through the cracks at NASA. I mean, aren’t potential astronauts subjected to all kinds of crazy tests before they’re allowed to even think about going up into space? Judging from her behaviour, this woman is clearly not mentally balanced these days.
The New York Times has just confirmed my initial reaction, in its article entitled “Astronaut’s Arrest Spurs Review of NASA Testing“.
It’s not that astronauts are expected to perfect. No one is perfect. Shouldn’t we trust that the people being subjected to the most rigorous and risky activity, arguably known to man, are being screened carefully enough?
This woman must be extremely humiliated by her own behaviour, and she shouldn’t be judged more harshly for it simply because she is a member of the space program. I am relieved to see that NASA seems to be accepting some responsibility for its actions (or, more precisely, inactions) in this matter.
