Payload Specialist

A payload specialist (English: Payload Specialist) was a party to a space flight, who was familiar with the payload and could handle. Most were the satellites or devices for experiments. In contrast to Mission Specialist his specialty was not the space, but rather each of the payload. The term is used today, following a well-established by NASA language regime, no longer used.

Origin of the term

The word is the direct translation of the English Payload Specialist from the colloquial language NASA, is used with the corresponding counterpart Mission Specialist, which translates literally as well in German as a mission specialist. When NASA and space propelled were referred to as Payload Specialist, were neither taken primarily because of a special knowledge of a particular payload, nor mission specialists were such as Christa McAuliffe as part of the Teacher - in-Space program, or time of flight 77 -year-old senator John Glenn. End of the 1990s the term was then used only for mission participants who had no technical problem on board, the term was used only as a euphemism for participants who were promoted for political reasons into space.

Today's use

After Verunglückung Columbia during the STS-107 mission in 2003, NASA decided not to payload specialists in the sense of the later use of the word (see above ) more take in its ongoing program. Payload Specialist is there therefore used only with respect to emissions to STS -107. In the environment of the ESA, the term is used only for the function of members of missions until 2003, even though the flights to the International Space Station are mainly designed to bring staff for experiments in the laboratory room. Following the language regime of the NASA hot even with the ESA all participants in a mission after 2003 up to pilot and commander always a mission specialist, regardless of their duties.