Why Chuck Yeager hasn't chosen to be astronaut

[Pawelk198604]

Ha was first person in the world who broke sound barrier and was famous why NASA don't selected him?

[Nirtus]

didn't had college degree?

[Canopus]

Nasa doesn't select you because you are famous:) To be honest i don't really know.

[TanC]

Maybe he wasn't interested in going to space? There could be any number of reasons, actually. Fame is definitely not one of the driving reasons behind choosing an astronaut.

[Nibb31]

He wasn't qualified, but he also said that he wasn't interested in taking the place of a chimpanze pressing buttons in a tin can. Yeager was interested in flying, but had no interest in the space program at the time of Mercury, where there wasn't much flying involved.

When I came home to George Air Force Base, I had an F-100 squadron and I was back in tactical flying. Test work is a very demanding type of flying. You fly a dozen different airplanes every week and you really don't feel comfortable in them, but you know the systems. But also, it's a lot of competition in test work. When you get into tactical flying, back in the fighter squadron, you fly only one airplane, stay combat ready and know your guys. It's a pretty nice way of life. So I came back and I was at George when the space program started in '59. The requirement to get into the space program was to have a degree, preferably engineering, math or one of the sciences. I only had a high school education. I didn't give it a thought. I couldn't care less about it because to me it wasn't flying, it was riding in capsules.

Edited May 21, 2013 by Nibb31