In the Shenzhou 16 mission, flight engineers and payload specialists will fly for the first time! How are they different from previous astronauts?

At 9:00 this morning, the press conference for the Shenzhou 16 manned flight mission was held at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. At the meeting, it was announced that the Shenzhou 16 manned flight mission will be launched at 9:31 tomorrow . The flight crew consists of three astronauts: Commander Jing Haipeng, flight engineer Zhu Yangzhu, and payload specialist Gui Haichao . This will be the "first show" of the flight engineer and payload specialist.

How are flight engineers and payload specialists different from astronauts on previous missions? What kind of work do they do? In this article, let Pu Pu show you how!

At first, astronauts were all pilots, but with the development of manned space technology, astronauts have taken on more and more complex tasks, and the structure of the astronaut team has also changed accordingly, from the original single type to multiple types, forming different types and professional divisions of labor.

Astronauts are divided into two categories: professional and non-professional:

· Professional astronauts refer to astronauts who specialize in space flight;

Non-professional astronauts are astronauts who temporarily work or conduct activities in space. They are mainly scientists or engineering technicians engaged in scientific research, experiments or payload operations.

The United States is divided into space pilots, mission specialists and payload specialists; Russia is divided into space pilots, space flight engineers and payload specialists. The two sets of classifications have their own characteristics and overlap with each other. Let us learn about them one by one!

PILOT​

The space pilot is mainly responsible for the operation and control of the spacecraft.

The crew of the US space shuttle has a dedicated pilot who sits in the right seat of the cockpit during launch and return landing, which is the position to the left of the commander, equivalent to the co-pilot of the aircraft. During the flight, the pilot must cooperate with the commander to complete the task of driving and operating the space shuttle. In fact, the time the pilot masters the joystick of the space shuttle will not exceed a few seconds at most, because the joystick is almost always controlled by the commander. If the pilot wants to fully control the space shuttle, he must be promoted to the commander. Usually, most pilots have the opportunity to be promoted after performing one or two missions.

As there are only 2 to 3 people in the crew of a manned spacecraft, there is no dedicated astronaut pilot, and the commander also serves as the astronaut pilot.

Shenzhou 16 mission commander Jing Haipeng (Photo source: China Manned Space Engineering Office)

MISSION SPECIALIST

Mission specialists are astronauts who are responsible for completing a specific mission or task in a space program. During space flight, the work of mission specialists is mainly responsible for the maintenance and payload management of the spacecraft, and they need to go out of the spacecraft to conduct "extravehicular activities". Extravehicular activities mainly include operating remote-controlled manipulators to release or recover satellites, assembling large space platforms, repairing spacecraft and equipment, and conducting observations, research and scientific experiments in space or on Earth.

Mission Specialist Mae C. Jemison

Mission experts are only deployed on multi-person spacecraft. The number of mission experts deployed on each flight varies depending on the size, complexity and mission of the manned spacecraft.

FLIGHT ENGINEER

Russia used to call astronauts similar to American mission specialists onboard engineers, but now they are called space flight engineers. In fact, they are engineering experts in the crew. Their main responsibility is to ensure the normal operation of the spacecraft, perform necessary maintenance and inspection of the spacecraft's systems and equipment, and carry out extravehicular activities.

Zhu Yangzhu, a flight engineer for the Shenzhou 16 mission (Photo source: China Manned Space Engineering Office)

PAYLOAD SPECIALIST

Most payload specialists are non-professional astronauts, usually scientists or engineers with special expertise. Payload specialists conduct scientific research and experiments on long-flying space stations or space shuttles, and are only responsible for the management and operation of payloads.

Gui Haichao, a payload expert for the Shenzhou 16 mission (Photo source: China Manned Space Engineering Office)

The construction of China's space station has been completed and it has entered the application and development stage. The Shenzhou 16 crew is the first crew to arrive in this stage. The space pilot Jing Haipeng and the flight engineer Zhu Yangzhu are mainly responsible for directly operating and managing the spacecraft and conducting relevant technical tests; the payload expert Gui Haichao is mainly responsible for the on-orbit operation of the space science experiment payload. He has received professional training in science, aerospace engineering and other fields and has rich operational experience. Together, they have made comprehensive preparations for the mission.

Brief introduction of the Shenzhou 16 flight crew (Photo source: China Manned Space Engineering Office)

The Shenzhou 16 mission is the first flight mission of my country's third batch of astronauts. Tomorrow, a new crew consisting of three types of astronauts will set out to space to carry out the first manned flight mission in the space station's application and development phase.

I wish the Shenzhou 16 manned space mission a complete success!