Payload Specialist

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In NASA vernacular, a Payload Specialist (PS) was a Space Shuttle crewmember selected for a single specific mission. In contrast, a Mission Specialist is selected as an astronaut first and then assigned to a mission. Payload Specialists were selected outside the astronaut training process and were not required to be United States citizens, but had to be approved by NASA and undergo rigorous training.

Payload Specialists on early missions were technical experts to accompany specific payloads such as a commercial or scientific satellite. On Spacelab and other missions with science components, payload specialists were scientists with expertise in specific experiments. The term also applied to representatives from partner nations who were given the opportunity of a first flight on board of the Space Shuttle (such as Saudi Arabia and Mexico), and to Congressmen and the Teacher in Space program.

Contrary to other Shuttle crew, international or scientific payload specialist were generally assigned as back-up crew (back-up Payload Specialist or alternate payload specialist).

Payload Specialists were flown from 1983 (STS-9) to 2003. NASA does not foresee any more need to fly payload specialists before the end of the Shuttle program in 2010. The last flown payload specialist was the first Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon on board STS-107, who was killed in the Columbia disaster with the rest of the crew.

Contents 1 List of all payload specialists 1.1 Pre-Challenger 1.2 From Challenger to Columbia 2 List of alternate and back-up (not flown) Payload Specialists 3 Other statistics 3.1 Number of flights 3.2 Payload Specialists who trained later as Mission Specialists

[edit] List of all payload specialists

[edit] Pre-Challenger

• STS-9

Ulf Merbold, Byron K. Lichtenberg (first payload specialists, Ulf Merbold was the first international (German) payload specialist)

• STS-41-D

Charles Walker

• STS-41-G

Marc Garneau, Paul D. Scully-Power (Garneau was the first Canadian in space)

• STS-51-C

Gary Payton (first military payload specialist)

• STS-51-D

Charles Walker, Jake Garn (first legislative branch payload specialist)

• STS-51-B

Lodewijk van den Berg, Taylor G. Wang

• STS-51-G

Patrick Baudry, Sultan Salman Al-Saud (two international payload specialists)

• STS-51-F

Loren W. Acton, John-David F. Bartoe

• STS-51-J

William A. Pailes

• STS-61-A

Reinhard Furrer, Ernst Messerschmid, Wubbo Ockels (three international payload specialists, most payload specialists on a single flight)

• STS-61-B

Rodolfo Neri Vela, Charles Walker (third and final flight of Charles Walker, Neri Vela was the first Mexican in space)

• STS-61-C

Robert J. Cenker, Bill Nelson

• STS-51-L

Gregory Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe (killed in the Challenger disaster)

[edit] From Challenger to Columbia

• STS-35

Samuel T. Durrance, Ronald A. Parise (first post-Challenger payload specialists)

• STS-40

F. Drew Gaffney, Millie Hughes-Fulford

• STS-44

Thomas J. Hennen

• STS-42

Roberta L. Bondar, Ulf Merbold

• STS-45

Byron K. Lichtenberg, Dirk D. Frimout (first Belgian in space)

• STS-50

Lawrence J. DeLucas, Eugene H. Trinh

• STS-46

Franco Malerba (first Italian in space)

• STS-47

Mamoru Mohri (first Japanese astronaut on board the Shuttle)

• STS-52

Steven G. MacLean

• STS-55

Ulrich Walter, Hans Schlegel

• STS-58

Martin Fettman

• STS-65

Chiaki Mukai

• STS-67

Samuel T. Durrance, Ronald A. Parise

• STS-73

Fred W. Leslie, Albert Sacco Jr.

• STS-75

Umberto Guidoni

• STS-78

Jean-Jacques Favier, Robert Brent Thirsk

• STS-83

Roger Crouch, Greg Linteris

• STS-94

Roger Crouch, Greg Linteris (Mission reflight)

• STS-85

Bjarni Tryggvason

• STS-87

Leonid Kadeniuk (Ukrainian payload specialist)

• STS-90

Jay C. Buckey, James A. Pawelczyk (Final Spacelab mission)

• STS-95

Chiaki Mukai, John H. Glenn (Last American payload specialist)

• STS-107

Ilan Ramon (first Israeli in space, last payload specialist, killed in the Columbia disaster)

[edit] List of alternate and back-up (not flown) Payload Specialists

This section needs to be completed

• STS-9

Wubbo Ockels, Michael Lampton

• STS-41-G

Robert Thirsk

• STS-51-F

George W. Simon, Diane K. Prinz

• STS-61-A

Ulf Merbold

• STS-50

Joseph M. Prahl, Albert Sacco

• STS-65

Jean-Jacques Favier

• STS-73

David H. Matthiesen, R. Glynn Holt

• STS-78

Pedro Duque, Luca Urbani

• STS-90

Alexander W. Dunlap, Chiaki Mukai

[edit] Other statistics

[edit] Number of flights

# of flights	Payload specialist
3	Charles Walker
2	Ulf Merbold, Byron K. Lichtenberg, Samuel T. Durrance, Ronald A. Parise, Chiaki Mukai, Roger Crouch, Greg Linteris
1	All others

# of payload specialists flights	Country
36	United States
6	Germany
5	Canada
3	Japan
2	France
2	Italy
1	Saudi Arabia
1	The Netherlands
1	Mexico
1	Belgium
1	Ukraine
1	Israel
Total	60 Payload Specialist flight opportunities

[edit] Payload Specialists who trained later as Mission Specialists

All are international Payload Specialists.

• Marc Garneau - flew on STS-97
• Mamoru Mohri - flew on STS-99
• Steven G. MacLean - flew on STS-115
• Hans Schlegel - scheduled to fly on STS-122
• Umberto Guidoni - flew on STS-100
• Robert Brent Thirsk - scheduled to fly on STS-123
• Bjarni Tryggvason