payload specialist

noun

1. an astronaut trained to handle highly complex or classified equipment carried aboard a space shuttle and to conduct experiments in space.
2. a specialist in transporting cargo.

Word History and Origins

Origin of payload specialist¹

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

Joining him on Thursday are two Italian colleagues - Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Angelo Landolfi, a physician and flight surgeon, and Pantaleone Carlucci, a research council member acting as flight engineer and payload specialist.

From Reuters

Joining him on Thursday are two Italian colleagues - Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Angelo Landolfi, a physician and flight surgeon, and Pantaleone Carlucci, a research council member acting as flight engineer and payload specialist.

From Reuters

Former military university professor Zhu will serve as spaceflight engineer while Gui, a professor at Beihang University, will serve as the payload specialist on the mission, managing science experiments at the space station.

From Reuters

“We operate as a crew,” says Administrator Bill Nelson, who flew himself in 1986 as a payload specialist, about his immediate team, Col.

From Washington Post

In 1986, he was a payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Columbia.

From Washington Times