Payload Specialist
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In NASA vernacular, a Payload Specialist (PS) was a Space Shuttle crewmember selected for a single specific 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. In contrast, a Mission Specialist is selected as an astronaut first and then assigned to a mission.
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.
Other functions on board are Mission Specialist, Pilot, Flight Engineer and Mission Commander. Contrary to other Shuttle crew, international or scientific Payload Specialists 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.
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[edit] List of all payload specialists
[edit] Pre-Challenger
Ulf Merbold, Byron K. Lichtenberg (first payload specialists, Ulf Merbold was the first international (German) payload specialist)
Marc Garneau, Paul D. Scully-Power (Garneau was the first Canadian in space)
Gary Payton (first military payload specialist)
Charles Walker, Jake Garn (first legislative branch payload specialist)
Lodewijk van den Berg, Taylor G. Wang
Patrick Baudry, Sultan Salman Al Saud (two international payload specialists)
Loren W. Acton, John-David F. Bartoe
Reinhard Furrer, Ernst Messerschmid, Wubbo Ockels (three international payload specialists, most payload specialists on a single flight)
Rodolfo Neri Vela, Charles Walker (third and final flight of Charles Walker, Neri Vela was the first Mexican in space)
Gregory Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe (killed in the Challenger disaster)
[edit] From Challenger to Columbia
Samuel T. Durrance, Ronald A. Parise (first post-Challenger payload specialists)
F. Drew Gaffney, Millie Hughes-Fulford
Roberta L. Bondar, Ulf Merbold
Byron K. Lichtenberg, Dirk D. Frimout (first Belgian in space)
Lawrence J. DeLucas, Eugene H. Trinh
Franco Malerba (first Italian in space)
Mamoru Mohri (first Japanese astronaut on board the Shuttle)
Samuel T. Durrance, Ronald A. Parise
Fred W. Leslie, Albert Sacco Jr.
Jean-Jacques Favier, Robert Brent Thirsk
Roger Crouch, Greg Linteris (Mission reflight)
Leonid Kadeniuk (Ukrainian payload specialist)
Jay C. Buckey, James A. Pawelczyk (Final Spacelab mission)
Chiaki Mukai, John H. Glenn (Last American payload specialist)
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
Wubbo Ockels, Michael Lampton
George W. Simon, Diane K. Prinz
Joseph M. Prahl, Albert Sacco
David H. Matthiesen, R. Glynn Holt
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 MacLean - flew on STS-115
- Hans Schlegel - scheduled to fly on STS-122
- Umberto Guidoni - flew on STS-100
- Robert Thirsk - scheduled to fly on STS-128
- Bjarni Tryggvason
