Not me, I'm a pilot and woefully unqualified to be an astronaut, even by my own criteria - but having worked in austere environments for much of my career and been in and around field camps, science camps, etc, I don't think we're sending the right people.

We're sending insanely qualified and intelligent people, but ultimately I don't think those are the "right people." Beyond the advantages associated with people who's natural environment is doing things that are inherently risky for money while also working with their hands, we've elevated the astronaut corps to nearly mythical status. As such, this makes it tough for people to relate with NASA and astronauts. The internet helps, but ultimately the ISS might as well be Olympus for most people.

Yes, these people should have degrees in science or math, but I think we should be sending people up who are mechanics, hazmat divers, welders, etc.

Yes, this latest round has test pilots (which is likely a solid move from a flight test standpoint), but if we want the public to give a shit about space travel and exploration, and if we want it to mirror historical explorations which were wildly successful, then I think we should send people who are accustomed to that kind of work. Much of the time we send fighter pilots turned test pilots - that's awesome, yeah, and those guys and gals are great, but to maintain the ISS you don't need a test pilot. You need a mechanic or an engineer at most. Just my take on the subject, but I think public interest would be much higher, funding would be greater and we'd be doing much more space flight.

This doesn't appear to be a popular opinion, but I believe it. As long as space only involves a certain elite aspect of our civilization, the public will view it as something that is really cool but completely unrealistic for the average person to be a part of. As long as this sentiment remains, getting people to spend tax money on the most important (in my opinion) achievement of our civilization will be tough.

You send some underwater welders, some Antarctic camp hands, and submariners, and you'll see public interest spike. Not only that, but these types of people will likely be great at it. I'd be interested in finding out how much NASA could learn from underwater fabrication types if they were doing EVAs.