(This possibility is mentioned in the discussion of amputees as astronauts - but I think it deserves its own item.)

The use of "little people" as astronauts - particularly for longterm missions like a Mars flight - makes sense from the point of view of optimal utilization of the available volume and other resources within the spacecraft.
-- smendler, Jul 21 2009

tiny_20humans [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 21 2009]

Amputees Make Better Astronauts Amputees_20Make_20Better_20Astronauts
[phoenix, Dec 22 2009]

"One Giant Leap for...me"
-- coprocephalous, Jul 21 2009


Dwarfonauts? //amputees as astronauts// This idea is already on the bakery somewhere.
-- xenzag, Jul 21 2009


sortof baked: fighter pilots are chosen for their (lack of) height, as are astronauts.
-- FlyingToaster, Jul 21 2009


Ah, so that's why they cast Tom Cruise in Top Gun?
-- theleopard, Jul 21 2009


Nice, I do think it is worthy of its own post, even with annotations suggesting such on a previous idea.

You would have to be specific about which forms of dwarfism you allow. Some forms would not be conducive to interplanetary travel.

Also, the graves on Mars will be smaller.

I seem to remember a certain sci-fi novella with this in mind. Can't think of it right now...something about a latent gene that produces a "giant" several generations down.
-- 4whom, Jul 21 2009


Well clearly i think this would be a good idea because of my previous Venus thing. It might be that if they ended up actually colonising a body with lower gravity, their descendants would end up taller than they would've been on Earth. I'm interested in the specific kinds of dwarfism which would make sense here. Maybe if you sent them up before they reached adulthood, they might end up growing a bit taller themselves.
-- nineteenthly, Jul 21 2009


(marked-for-tagline)

" Well clearly i think this would be a good idea because of my previous Venus thing "
-- normzone, Jul 21 2009


At minimum (no pun intended), this could also be the germ for a low-budget SF flick...
-- smendler, Dec 22 2009


//low budget SF flick// there are precedents for storylines:

- victims of accidents leaving them legless
- GM'd extra pair of arms instead of legs
- Heinlein's 'Waldo' who suffered from myasthenia gravis (severe muscle weakness)
- Gardner's "Explorer Corps": physically disfigured humans chosen because their loss is less of a PR disaster than 'pretty people'.
- 'brains in boxes': people with severely damaged physical bodies can opt to have their brains replanted to become cyborg ships, tanks, etc.

... so 'dwarves in space' has possibiliities.
-- FlyingToaster, Dec 22 2009


Hey, we could just use the idea as the basis for a TV series, y'know
-- smendler, Jan 20 2013



random, halfbakery