Payload specialist

The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 states that NASA should provide the "widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities and the results thereof". The Naugle panel of 1982 concluded that carrying civilians—those not part of the NASA Astronaut Corps—on the Space Shuttle was part of "the purpose of adding to the public's understanding of space flight".^[1]

Payload specialists usually fly for a single specific mission. Chosen outside the standard NASA

Payload specialists on early missions were technical experts to join specific payloads such as a commercial or scientific satellite. On

NASA expected to also fly "citizen astronauts", ordinary Americans who could describe space to others. In August 1984 President Ronald Reagan announced the Teacher in Space Project, the first such program. NASA expected to fly reporters (Journalist in Space Project), entertainers, and creative types later.^[5]

NASA categorized full-time international astronauts as payload specialists unless they received NASA mission specialist training, which some did.

Payload specialists were flown from 1983 (STS-9) to 2003 (STS-107). The last flown payload specialist was the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who was killed in the Columbia disaster on mission STS-107 with the rest of the crew.

Criticism

Within NASA,

Those skeptical of the payload specialist program were less critical of scientists and experts like Walker than non-expert passengers ("part-timers", according to Mike Mullane, who called the program public relations-driven and immoral in Riding Rockets) like Garn,

Author Tom Wolfe, who chronicled the early days of the space program in The Right Stuff, wrote after the Challenger explosion that support for the citizen program, and therefore McAuliffe's place aboard the ill-fated shuttle, was part of an insiders' battle. NASA civilians, pitting themselves against the professional astronauts, used the program for the "dismantling of Astropower," which Wolfe described as "the political grip the original breed of fighter-pilot test-pilot astronauts had on NASA."^[1]

Payload specialists were aware of full-time astronauts' dislike of the program. Garn advised STS-51-D colleague Jeffrey A. Hoffman to not play poker because, the astronaut quoted, "'It took you a while to disguise your initial skepticism about this whole thing'". Merbold said that at JSC he was treated as an intruder. Once payload specialists were assigned to a mission, however, full-time astronauts treated them respectfully and often began long-term friendships. Mullane became less critical of them after his first mission; he and Hartsfield approved of Walker, as did Hoffman of Garn after STS-51-D.^{[3]: 40, 48, 50–52}

List of all payload specialists

Until Challenger

Post-Challenger to Columbia

Alternate and back-up (not flown) payload specialists

Other statistics

Multiple flights

No. of payload specialists flights	Country
36	United States
6	Germany[a]
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

Payload specialists who later trained as mission specialists

All were international astronauts.

• Marc Garneau – mission specialist on STS-77, STS-97
• Mamoru Mohri – mission specialist on STS-99
• Steven MacLean – mission specialist on STS-115
• Hans Schlegel – mission specialist on STS-122
• Umberto Guidoni – mission specialist on STS-100
• Robert Thirsk – completed training, flew on Soyuz TMA-15
• Bjarni Tryggvason – completed training, retired in June 2008 without flying again

See also

• List of human spaceflights
• List of Space Shuttle missions
• List of Space Shuttle crews
• Shenzhou 16 - the first time of mission has the position of Payload specialist in China Manned Space Program
  • Gui Haichao - the first payload specialist and the first civilian taikonaut in this Program

Notes

References