[Animats]

This is decades old. Look at the date. It's about someone who was selected in 1992. "With the space station currently under construction...". This dates from the early Shuttle era.

NASA has far too many astronauts now; they've been laying them off. They're now down to 42 active astronauts[1], from a peak of around 130. One ex-astronaut was grumbling publicly that his pass to NASA Houston had been pulled. Ex-astronauts used to be allowed in for life. Not any more.

After all, NASA has nothing for them to pilot.

Space-X, though...

[1] http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/astrobio.html