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From: elaine@rice.EDU (Elaine Hill)
Newsgroups: net.columbia
Subject: Re: \"private citizen in space\" is a poor choice of phrase
Message-ID: <154@dione.rice.EDU>
Date: Fri, 14-Feb-86 22:53:15 EST
Article-I.D.: dione.154
Posted: Fri Feb 14 22:53:15 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Feb-86 18:55:30 EST
References: <1016@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Organization: Rice University, Houston
Lines: 26
Summary: astronaut titles

> I think that NASA would have better handled Christa McAuliffe's selection by
> describing it as a competitive selection for a "special mission specialist".
> She would be a "special mission specialist" in the sense that NASA had no
> continuing need for such a specialist in its astronaut corps, but did have a
> need for this specialty on one flight. 
> 
> The person selected received a
> mission specialist's basic training.  Ms. McAuliffe was in reality as much
> a mission specialist as the (Hughes?) engineer on that flight.
> 
> 		Bob Fleischer

NASA already has a title to describe people who receive mission specialist
type training for a single mission:  payload specialist.

I believe that Jarvis and McAuliffe were each payload specialists.  Charles
Walker, the guy who manufactured the drugs, was a payload specialist.  The
foreign "guest astronauts" have each been payload specialists.

The terms "citizen-in-space" and "teacher-in-space" were probably coined by
Reagan or the press, but not by NASA.

                                 Elaine Hill
                                 Computer Science Dept.
                                 Rice University
                                 elaine@rice.edu -or- elaine@rice.uucp