Originally Posted by
Less Hair
However the first capsule astronauts were exactly the same although higher pre-qualified and taking much higher risks. They would be called canned meat, apes did the first ride and such back then.
That was the view supposedly of Yeager and others but whilst it might apply to the Vostok cosmonauts there was quite a bit of “pilot stuff” needed by some of the Mercury astronauts to ensure successful flights……
In any event they were as you say all mindful of the risks..