re: Orion
Flying the shuttle as a glider to the base is perhaps rewarding but it's only a tiny fraction of a mission duration.
In the future, with Orion, thery might not need to do anything during liftoff and landing and perhaps not even very much during docking and Moonlanding as there will be automated systems for unmanned versions.
One thing though: the next astronaut selections will emphasize on their abilities to sustain high G's, Moon geology, engineering.