Science astronaut

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Science astronauts (also science cosmonauts ) are a subgroup of space travelers who are not directly entrusted with the management of the spaceship , but carry out scientific or technological experiments during the mission .

History and general

The first scientists in space were Boris Yegorov and Konstantin Feoktistov on board Vozhod 1 (USSR) in 1964.

In the USA, NASA trained scientists as astronauts from 1965 . The first American scientific astronaut in space was Harrison Schmitt , who flew as a geologist on the last manned lunar mission Apollo 17 in 1972 . He was also a pilot, however.

Since 1978 NASA has differentiated between mission specialists - who are professional astronauts - and payload specialists. The latter are mostly researchers or technicians who only carry out scientific experiments on certain missions or modules.

ESA astronauts flew both as payload specialists (e.g. Ulf Merbold , Reinhard Furrer , Ernst Messerschmid ) and as mission specialists (e.g. Claude Nicollier , Gerhard Thiele ).

The cooperation between space technology and science can have an extraordinarily fruitful effect on smaller countries. One example of this is the Soviet - Austrian Austromir91 mission with Franz Viehböck , in whose 15 experiments 20 research institutes and 30 companies were involved.

As a secondary purpose, scientific astronauts help to bring the public closer to the meaning of space travel and, in particular, to free the benefits of manned space travel from the often superficial cost-based thinking. The willingness to innovate in industry and applied research can also be promoted in this way.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Joachim Becker: Woßchod 1. In: Spacefacts. Retrieved May 7, 2018 .