Types of Astronauts (2024)

Commander/Pilot Astronauts

Pilot astronauts serve as both Space Shuttle commanders and pilots. During flight, the commander has onboard responsibility for the vehicle, crew, mission success, and safety of flight. The pilot assists the commander in controlling and operating the vehicle and may assist in the deployment and retrieval of satellites using the remote manipulator system (RMS), referred to as the robot arm or mechanical arm.

Mission Specialist Astronauts

Mission specialist astronauts work with the commander and the pilot and have overall responsibility for coordinating Shuttle operations in the following areas: Shuttle systems, crew activity planning, consumables usage, and experimen/payload operations. Mission specialists are trained in the details of the Orbiter onboard systems, as well as the operational characteristics, mission requirements/objectives, and supporting equipment/systems for each of the experiments conducted on their assigned missions. Mission specialists perform extravehicular activities (EVAs), or spacewalks, operate the remote manipulator system, and are responsible for payloads and specific experiment operations.

Payload Specialists

Payload specialists are persons other than NASA astronauts (including foreign nationals) who have specialized onboard duties; they may be added to Shuttle crews if activities that have unique requirements are involved and more than the minimum crew size of five is needed.

First consideration for additional crew members is given to qualified NASA mission specialists. When payload specialists are required they are nominated by NASA, the foreign sponsor, or the designated payload sponsor. In the case of NASA or NASA-related payloads, the nominations are based on the recommendations of the appropriate Investigator Working Group (IWG). Although payload specialists are not part of the Astronaut Candidate Program, they must have the appropriate education and training related to the payload. All applicants must meet certain physical requirements and must pass NASA space physical examinations with varying standards depending on classification.

For information about opportunities in this field, write to NASA Headquarters, Attn: Code OST-5, Washington, DC 20546. If you are not a citizen of the United States, you may wish to contact the appropriate government agency within your own country.

THE ROBOT ARM

How do the astronauts train using the robotic arm on Earth, seeing there is gravity? Would the arm support its own weight on Earth?

The Short Response:

For robotic arm training, the astronauts use several different simulators, with each possessing its own strengths. The Shuttle Engineering Simulator (SES) and the Shuttle Mission Simulator (SMS) are two computer simulators that are used extensively. Each one has actual switches and hand controllers to manoeuver a computer model of the arm and the payload. Another heavily used simulator is the Mission Development Facility (MDF). This simulator utilizes real hardware, which includes a hydraulic robot arm, payload mock-ups, and cameras. To assist EVA operations, the NASA Neutral Bouyancy Labortory (NBL) has an underwater robotic arm. This is used to train the crew in joint EVA and arm operations.

The Long Response:

Although gravity cannot be “seen”, we do have to account for it in our robotic simulators. For robotic arm training, the astronauts use several different simulators, with each pocessing it’s own strengths. The Shuttle Engineering Simulator (SES) and the Shuttle Mission Simulator (SMS) are two computer simulators that are used extensively. Each one has actual switches and hand controllers to manoeuver a computer model of the arm and the payload. The camera views and window views are computer generated graphics of the payload used for that particular mission. Each simulator models the correct arm dynamics and boom flex, so that the astronauts learn how the arm will respond to inputs and stop commands.

Another heavily used simulator is the Mission Development Facility (MDF). This simulator utilizes real hardware, which includes a hydraulic robot arm, payload mock-ups, and cameras. The switches and controls are nearly identical to the real arm, but the payloads that are picked up are volumetrically equivalent to the real payload. The MDF arm can only pick up 500 lbs, so many large payloads like HST are actually large helium balloons. The MDF gives the crew the “real” perception by using actual cameras and window views instead of computer generated graphics.

To assist EVA operations, the NASA Neutral Bouyancy Labortory (NBL) has an underwater robotic arm. This is used to train the crew in joint EVA and arm operations.

On earth, the real arm could not support it’s own weight and could not be lifted out of it’s own support pedestal with it’s own power. For testing of the flight arm, it is placed on an air-bearing floor with high pressure air “pads” that lift the arm onto air pockets (much like an air hockey table). This is not done for training, but only for flight arm testing, as the arm can only be manoeuvered in two degrees of freedom. While the real arm can lift up to 65,000 lbs in orbit, it cannot lift it’s own weight on earth. Gravity is an amazing thing.

Weightless Environment Training Facility

Astronauts practice for working in space in NASA’sWeightless Environment Training Facility (WETF), a large water tank that contains a mockup of the space shuttle orbiter payload bay and various payloads. The astronauts are assisted here by SCUBA equipped divers.

The 21st century promises the challenge for humans to live and work in space. The achievements of scientists, engineers, technicians, and specialists who will build and operate the Space Station are the legacy of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) many years of experience in selecting and training astronauts to work on the frontier of space.

What specific roles are the commander and pilot responsible for during the mission?

The Commander is the captain of the ship, and makes all real-time critical decisions on behalf of the crew and in coordination with the MCC. The Commander also flies the shuttle during approach and landing, and is trained and ready to take over from the computers and fly at all other times. The Pilot is the Commander’s understudy, and is fully trained to do all the same tasks as required. Commanders fly at least once as Pilots before they move into the left seat. Both participate in experiments and on-orbit operations, with some limitations. They are not allowed to do spacewalks, as we can’t afford to have them stuck outside during an emergency deorbit. They also don’t normally operate the Canadarm, as it is a specialised task separate from flying the vehicle.(A Canadarm is a 15 metre­long robot analog of the human arm: nerves of copper wiring, bones of graphite, fibre­reinforced tubing, muscles of electric motors and a multi­layered skin of special cloth materials. Embedded within, thermostat­controlled heaters prevent drastic temperature fluctuations. Controlled by an electronic brain, its computer, Canadarm can be operated under human control or automatically to perform retriving and repairing of instruments in space.)

WHATAREASTRONAUTS

Astronauts are men and women who live in space. Each astronaut requires the special skills of a quick, clear thinking mind as well as many physical abilities acquired through training. These skills, plus an exceptional understanding of science and mathematics are all called for when living and working in space.

All space travellers are pioneers. They can be called explorers of the modern age. They perform new tasks in unfamiliar situations. They set foot on new worlds untouched by human kind. In order to embark on these ground-breaking missions, they must take phenomenal risks with their lives and extremely expensive equipment. Each mission is thoroughly rehearsed and planned years before takeoff. The astronauts go through intensive training before they fly a spacecraft. Still, things can and do go wrong.

LIFE IN A SPACE SHUTTLE

Living in space takes some getting used to. The simplest everyday actions, become problems in zero gravity. Most of these have been solved, but living in space for long periods of time has many other drawbacks. Effects of the low gravity of space on the human body include loss of minerals in bones and wasting of muscles. Also, living in isolation for long periods of time can have effectson the mind. Much more research is needed before astronauts can undergo long trips in space.

How does the crew deal with medical emergencies in space?

The Shuttle carries a series of medical kits called the Shuttle Orbiter Medical System (SOMS) into orbit for use by two specially trained crew members (Crew Medical Officers) for each mission. The crew members can use the kits to deal with both minor and major illnesses/injuries that might typically be seen in a small emergency center. These include suturing lacerations, giving injections, using intravenous fluids, antibiotics, and other medications, and diagnosing and treating a variety of medical events during spaceflight.

How do astronauts in space go to the bathroom and take care of their personal hygiene?

Astronauts brush their teeth just like they do on Earth. There is no shower on the Shuttle, so astronauts must make do with sponge baths until they return home. Each Space Shuttle has a toilet that can be used by both men and women. Designed to be as much as possible like those on Earth, the units use flowing air instead of water to move waste through the system. Solid wastes are compressed and stored onboard, and then removed after landing. Wastewater is vented to space, although future systems may recycle it. The air is filtered to remove odor and bacteria and then returned to the cabin.

Is there a danger of dehydration in space?

The humidity onboard the shuttle is set at a low 20 percent so that crew members try to drink more water than on Earth to avoid dehydration.

Does the crew all sleep at the same time, or does someone have to stay awake to monitor systems?

During a single-shift flight crew members all sleep at the same time. Mission control watch over the them very carefully and have ways of waking them up via alarms. They can set off an alarm up here in the shuttle that will certainly get us out of the rack and get us looking at what they want us to look at. So we do all sleep at the same time but we’re being watched over very carefully.

Is the crew still asleep at the time of the wake up call?

Some crew members like to set their alarms a few minutes early so that they are alert by wakeup. It’s a nice time to be awake since the ground is not going to call them unless there’s an emergency. For those still sleeping at wakeup, the wakeup music usually does a pretty good job of clearing the cobwebs.

Does weightlessness affect the crew’s dreams?

STS-82 mission specialist spacewalkerGreg Harbaugh:
“I believe that weightlessness does affect the types of dreams I have experienced. I tried to make a point of remembering what I was dreaming about last night and I do remember some images of not walking but floating, so I would have to say that the impression on my body and on my memory of floating in space that I’ve done up to this point does remanifest itself through my dreams. I have not had, that I can recall, the experience on the ground of dreaming of being weightless, although ever since I was a young boy I dreamed that I could fly. I know that’s a fairly common experience, but perhaps that was anticipation of what I’m doing now, and perhaps now when I dream of flying when I’m on Earth, maybe that’s reaching back into these memories.”