Why can't NASA send migets into space?

Question

I was just watching NASA unoffical video. They talked about fuel and how much it costs to send something into space. And I thought, hell... midgets don;t weight much.. less fuel.. and they can do the same work as a normal person in space..

Answer 1

That would be so awesome.

Answer 2

Technically, NASA can send anything into space that weighs less than the payload rating of their boosters and can be contained within the physical confines of the orbital stages.

The problem with sending "little people" is, as was noted before, that there is no real trade-off between their reduced mass and the amount of re-design that would have to be done to accommodate them. Human factors designs are usually built to deal with fifth-percentile women and ninety-fifth percentile men when it comes to height. "Little people" are usually much smaller and would require specific designs.

Another factor might be the amount of strength needed to move things around in orbit. Although the weight would be reduced to almost zero, the mass would remain the same and thus the inertia. It might be more dangerous to send someone who would be unable to stop something from moving.

Answer 3

First off, not everyone is capable of becoming an astronaut. The training is intense and there are only a very few people capable of completing the necessary training. So if they were to use midgets, NASA would be severely limiting themselves just based upon the fact that there is not an overwhelming midget population. Not to mention that at this point all of their systems are/were developed for standard height people.

Answer 4

It would cost so much more to re-develop the space suits. This is the same reason that there has only been 2 women so far that have gone on the Space Walk, the suits are not anatomically correct for an 8 hour space walk.

Answer 5

Please don't give them anymore ideas!!! They are wasting enough money as it is. Don't forget the "how does space effect old people" test. Ridiculous.