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From: rick@pavlov.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu (Richard H. Miller)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: married astronauts to fly together?
Message-ID: <4162@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu>
Date: 16 Feb 91 21:11:48 GMT
References: <1991Feb4.115208.11590@pbs.org> <877@idacrd.UUCP>
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In article <877@idacrd.UUCP> mac@idacrd.UUCP (Robert McGwier) writes:
>From article <1991Feb4.115208.11590@pbs.org>, by pstinson@pbs.org:
>
>[about policy of close relatives serving on board ships]

>This is false.  There are several cases of two parents who were in the
>active service, active reserves, and now inactive reserves being shipped
>to the Saudi theatre.  I watched a fairly interesting example on `Larry
>King Live' on CNN last week.


Sorry, you are incorrect. There is a policy because of the five (not three)
Sullivan brothers which were lost when one ship was lost in the South Pacific
during WWII. The policy does not prohibit service in the same theater, but
does prohibit service in the same unit [I believe]. There is quite a bit of 
difference between being in the same area [assigned to JSC as an Astronaut] vs
being on the same Shuttle mission. [It is not likely that a catastrophe will
take out the entire corps but it is much more likely that a Shuttle accident
could wipe out a crew. This type of accident is what the policy is designed
to prohibit and this is the military policy used]. I believe that it does
apply to ground units also to the degree that brothers cannot serve in the
same Company.  

-- 
Richard H. Miller                 Email: rick@bcm.tmc.edu
Asst. Dir. for Technical Support  Voice: (713)798-3532
Baylor College of Medicine        US Mail: One Baylor Plaza, 302H
                                           Houston, Texas 77030