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Now hiring at NASA? Astronauts are lacking

Returning Guardsmen get a warm welcome

Truck driver scared stiff by slithery stowaway

By Brian Vastag

By Rachael Rees

The Washington Post

The Bulletin

WASHINGTON — Despite the end of the space shuttle program, NASA needs to hire more astronauts to maintain its presence on the International Space Station and prepare for the next generation of spaceflight, concludes a new report from the National Research Council, part of the congressionally chartered National Academy of Sciences. NASA employes 59 astronauts, down from 150 a decade ago, and observers expect the agency to lose another half-dozen before the end of the year. The report, which NASA paid for, warns that “the Astronaut Corps appears to be sized below the minimum required,” and that the current corps size “poses a risk to the U.S. investment in human spaceflight capabilities.” The report does not recommend a specific number of astronauts but says that the extensive training required, non-spaceflight tasks and the medical demands of long tours of duty on the space station could lead to astronaut shortages within five years. In January, for instance, the astronaut office at Johnson Space Center in Houston needed to choose two crew members for future space station missions. Of the 63 on the roster, only six were medically qualified and available. “New astronauts are needed in the pipeline,” said Wayne Hale, a former space shuttle launch director who reviewed the report. “It takes quite a while to train people for human space flight.” Basic space station training takes two and half years, the report says, with 31 weeks of that spent in Russia training on the Soyuz and learning Russian. “Fifty to sixty people is an adequate size for where we’re going to be for the next several years,” said Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, who reviewed the report. See Astronauts / A6

Randall McCauley made an unexpected discovery when he opened the passenger door of his rented U-Haul on Friday. McCauley found a three-foot adult ball python that had been traveling with him on the floorboard of the passenger seat. McCauley said he picked up the 24-foot U-Haul on Monday afternoon from Storage Central in Redmond to move from Three Rivers to Bend. He used the truck all day unaware of what was lying beside him. “We were finished with the truck and I was going to move it to the end of the driveway to do a walk-around to make sure we got everything,” he said. “I got in the driver’s side and (saw) there was still a box on the passenger floor.” When McCauley opened the passenger door to remove the box he saw the tail of a snake. Confused as to why there would be a snake in the truck, McCauley closed the door and rushed to show his wife and two daughters what was in the U-Haul. “They were freaked out at the fact that they rode with it all week not knowing that it was in the cab with them,” he said. “They were all wearing flip-flops.” While McCauley said he thinks the snake was in the truck when he rented it, Mike Koepf, a sales associate from Central Storage, said that wouldn’t be possible. “The trucks are all checked and cleaned before they are rented out,” Koepf said. “Are you going to get into your car and not notice a 3-foot snake sitting next to you? It’s pretty hard to miss.” Koepf acknowledges that a snake was in the truck, but said no one knows how it got there. McCauley called animal control officers to remove the snake. Sheriff’s Deputies Daniel Graham and Jason Wall were sent to the scene because there is not a separate department for animal control complaints. See Python / A6

TOP NEWS INSIDE GOP DEBATE: Romney and Perry spar over jobs, the economy, Page A3 OBAMA: Much is riding on jobs speech, Page A3

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Oregon National Guard Spc. Eric Weaver, of Bend, is greeted by his daughter, Lacie, 3, and the rest of his family while returning from a year of duty in Iraq after landing at the Redmond Airport on Wednesday.

By Scott Hammers The Bulletin

REDMOND — Family and friends of National Guard troops filled the Redmond Airport Wednesday, welcoming home the first of 52 Central Oregon service members arriving from Iraq. Eighteen members of the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Brigade of the Oregon Army National Guard made the flight Wednesday from Fort Lewis, Wash., where they’ve spent the last week and a half since returning from overseas. Paperwork delays prevented the remaining troops from returning Wednesday, but they should arrive by Saturday, Col. Mark Parrish said.

The Redmond event was one of several homecomings around the state Wednesday, with roughly 600 National Guardsmen returning. For Michelle Maddox, the wait was agonizing. The wife of one National Guardsman and mother of another, Maddox said time seemed to slow down as Wednesday and the return of her husband, Albert Maddox, and her son, Terry Ulloa, approached.

“This last week has been a year,” she said. “It’s the longest week I’ve ever known.” Although Albert Maddox was on the flight to Redmond Wednesday, Ulloa won’t be returning until today. Michelle Maddox said they’d be back at the airport to pick up her son today, and like his stepfather, he’ll be getting a homecooked meal of his choosing. Having her dad home was excitement enough for Ciera Maddox, Michelle and Albert Maddox’s 5-year-old daughter. Ciera clung close to his knees, checking out his uniform and his boots while telling him the story behind the mosquito bites dotting her arms. “I love my daddy very much,” Ciera said. See Return / A6

1 DAY, 10 Y E A R S: SEP T. 11, 2 0 01- SEP T. 11, 2 011 Mountains of items were recovered from the wreckage of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. View 20 By Sheila G. Miller While Oregonians were just Inside images of recovered items, waking up when the terror at• Where were tacks hit New York City and you on 9/11? where they were found Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, Page A5 2001, our elected officials were already at work. and, in some instances, As they got down to busiDr. Charles Hirsch, chief medical examiner of New York, shows the conness in the nation’s capital, chaos hit. who owned them, at tents of his jacket pocket from 9/11, including a few coins and pulverized Then-Sen. Gordon Smith got up early to get to concrete from the World Trade Center. He kept the material in a tray on the Capitol to finish some paperwork, driving to his office on a clear, crisp fall morning. bendbulletin.com/sept11. his desk.

Lawmakers recall terror of 9/11 in D.C.

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Tyler Hicks / New York Times News Service

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DAY 1: Pulitzer winners

DAY 2: Flight 175 sequence