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Astronaut ranks and positions

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Astronauts hold a variety of ranks and positions. Each of these roles carries responsibilities that are essential to the operation of a spacecraft. A spacecraft's cockpit, filled with sophisticated equipment, requires skills differing from those used to manage the scientific equipment on board, and so on.

NASA ranks and positions

Ranks

Members of the NASA Astronaut Corps hold one of two ranks. Astronaut Candidate is the rank of those training to be NASA astronauts.

Upon graduation from training, candidates are promoted to Astronaut and receive their Astronaut Pin. The pin is issued in two grades, silver and gold, with the silver pin awarded to candidates who have successfully completed astronaut training and the gold pin to astronauts who have flown in space.

Chief of the Astronaut Office is a position, not a rank.

Positions

Position	Duties	Examples
Mercury
Overall mission success	Mercury Seven	As a single-seat spacecraft, the astronauts who flew the Mercury missions were referred to simply as "Pilots". Mercury Pilots were required to have experience as a pilot of high-performance jet aircraft and to be no more than 5 ft tall and weigh no more than 180 lb.
Gemini
Overall mission success, safety of crew and spacecraft	James McDivitt	McDivitt was the first rookie Command Pilot.
Serves as systems engineer, copilot, and would perform any other mission objectives such as EVA's during the Gemini program.	Ed White	White was the first American who made an EVA (extravehicular activity).
Apollo
Commander (Apollo program)Overall mission success, safety of crew and spacecraft, pilot in command of spacecraft during launch, trans-lunar coast, and Earth return coast. Also pilot in command of the Apollo Lunar Module. The commander would make the actual descent and landing of LM on the lunar surface, as well as the lunar ascent back to the orbiting CSM.	Apollo 11 Commander: Neil Armstrong, first man on the Moon.
Command Module PilotResponsible for knowing the CSM and their systems fully. Serve as flight engineer during launch phase while commander would be in full control of the vehicle. Perform navigation and mid-course correction procedures during trans-lunar and trans-Earth phases of flight, command pilot of CSM during lunar orbit phase (when the mission commander is in control of the lunar module from separation phase until the LM docked back with CSM in lunar orbit). The CM pilot would also have other objectives during lunar orbit phase such as lunar photography, research and study for future landing sites for subsequent Apollo missions, deploy lunar satellite in some cases, as well as being responsible for relaying messages from mission control if radio contact with the LM was lost or weak, and also responsible for performing an orbital rescue with the LM if it were to malfunction and not be able to perform as needed to rendezvous with CSM as planned for in normal cases, but this never was needed. However, the CM pilot was responsible for docking the two ships together when the LM returned to orbit after being on the surface. On later J-series missions, the CM pilot would conduct an EVA on the return voyage to collect film canisters in the SIM bay.	Michael Collins,
Backup CMP: William Anders
Lunar Module PilotFlight engineer of Apollo Lunar Module during descent and ascent of the LM also responsible for its systems during all phases of flight between Earth and Moon. The LMP would callout key information to the commander during the most critical descent and landing phases when all of the commander's attention would be focused out the window and on visually flying the LM to a suitable landing spot on the surface. He would also control the navigation computer and other subsystems of the craft while the commander had hands on the controls to fly the ship down manually the last portion of the descent when manual control was taken over from the computer.	Buzz Aldrin, second man on the Moon
Backup LMP: Fred Haise	Aldrin was the first person in space with a doctorate
	Deke Slayton, Mercury 7 astronaut,
Backup DMP: Jack Lousma	Position only used once during Apollo–Soyuz joint mission
Skylab
Overall mission success, safety of crew and spacecraft	Pete Conrad, first Skylab commander
	Paul J. Weitz
	Joseph P. Kerwin, first American physician in space
Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle Commander Overall mission success, safety of crew and Shuttle, maneuvered Shuttle with assistance from Pilot.	John Young, commander of the first Shuttle mission	All Shuttle commanders had prior spaceflight experience. Required a degree in engineering, biological science, physical science, or mathematics. Must have had at least 1000 hours flying experience on a jet aircraft, and at least 750 simulated landings in the Shuttle Training Aircraft. Must pass a NASA Class I space physical to be certified for flight.
Space Shuttle Pilot Assists the Commander in maneuvering the Shuttle. May have also been responsible for release and recovery of satellites.	Robert Crippen, flew the first Space Shuttle mission as pilot	Same education and flight experience requirements as a Commander, but does not need prior spaceflight experience.
Payload Commander A Mission Specialist with additional responsibility for the management of the science or other major payload elements of the mission.	Story Musgrave, Michael P. Anderson	Payload Commanders were always NASA astronauts.
An astronaut assigned to a Shuttle crew with mission-specific duties.	Jerry L. Ross and Franklin Chang-Diaz each flew seven times as Shuttle Mission Specialists.	Must pass a NASA Class II space physical to be certified for flight.
A Mission Specialist with additional responsibility for assisting the Commander and Pilot during ascent and landing. The FE kept track of information from CAPCOM and called out milestones.	Story Musgrave, Sally Ride, Michael P. Anderson, Steven Hawley	The FE is always mission specialist 2 (MS-2) and sits in seat 4 on the Shuttle flight deck for both launch and landing.
Technical experts who accompanied specific payloads such as a commercial or scientific satellites.		Payload Specialists were non-NASA personnel. The term was also applied to representatives from partner nations such as Saudi Arabia and Mexico who were given the opportunity to fly on the Space Shuttle. This position was discontinued in 2003 following the Columbia disaster.
Same as mission specialist but with additional education-related duties.		Position created in 2004 as part of the Educator Astronaut Project.
Same as mission specialist but may have had payload-specific duties assigned by home agency.	Hans Schlegel
Same as payload specialist, but were military personnel who accompanied military payloads.	Gary Payton, William A. Pailes	Payton and Pailes were the only Manned Spaceflight Engineers to fly before the program's termination in 1988.
People who travel aboard space missions coordinated by those agencies who are not part of the crew.	Christa McAuliffe, Teacher in Space Project, Space Shuttle Challenger disaster	This term serves to distinguish tourists and other special travelers from the career astronauts.
Commercial Crew Program
Overall mission success, safety of crew and spacecraft, manages ascent and entry	Douglas G. Hurley, Demo-2
Manages rendezvous, docking, and undocking with the ISS, and quiescent operations while docked	Robert L. Behnken, Demo-2	Position only used once during the Demo-2 mission.
Assist the Spacecraft Commander in maneuvering the capsule.	Victor Glover, Crew-1	Used on NASA contracted Crew Dragon flights starting with Crew-1.
A NASA or affiliated astronaut with mission-specific duties.	Soichi Noguchi, first Crew Dragon Mission Specialist,	Used on NASA contracted Crew Dragon flights starting with Crew-1.
Artemis program
Overall mission success, safety of crew and spacecraft.	Reid Wiseman, Artemis 2
	Victor Glover, Artemis 2
A NASA or affiliated astronaut with mission-specific duties.	Jeremy Hansen, Artemis 2
A NASA or affiliated astronaut with engineering - mission specific duties

{{anchor|Roscosmos}} Roscosmos and Soviet space program ranks and positions

Ranks

Cosmonauts are professional space travellers from Russia. After initial training, cosmonauts are assigned as either a test cosmonaut () or a research cosmonaut (). A test cosmonaut has a more difficult preparation than a research cosmonaut and can serve as the commander or the flight engineer of a spacecraft, while a research cosmonaut cannot. испытатель: tester ; исследователь: researcher (explorer)

Higher ranks include pilot cosmonaut, test cosmonaut instructor, and research cosmonaut instructor.

Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation is a title that is presented to all cosmonauts who fly for the Russian space program.

Positions

Position	Duties	Examples
Vostok
Overall mission success	Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space	As a single-seat spacecraft, the cosmonaut who flew the Vostok missions were referred to simply as "Pilot Cosmonauts".
Voskhod
Overall mission success, safety of crew and spacecraft	Vladimir Komarov, commanded the first multi-person flight
	Alexei Leonov, the first person to perform a spacewalk
	Konstantin Feoktistov, the first engineer in space
	Boris Yegorov, the first doctor in space
Soyuz
Overall mission success, safety of crew and spacecraft	Vladimir Dzhanibekov, commander of missions to Salyut 6 and Salyut 7 space stations
One or two flight engineers per mission. Assist commander and perform mission-specific duties	Svetlana Savitskaya, the first female to perform a spacewalk
No official duties		Term used for Soyuz passengers who are not part of the crew, and serves to distinguish tourists and other special travelers from the career astronauts.

China National Space Administration positions

Ranks

Similarly to NASA, members of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) hold one of two ranks. Astronaut Candidate is the rank of those training to be CNSA astronauts. Upon graduation, candidates are promoted to Astronaut.

The positions of Spacecraft Pilot, Flight Engineer, and Mission Payload Specialist were listed in the announcement for the Group 3 selection.

Positions

Position	Duties	Examples	Comments	Commander (指挥长)	Spacecraft Pilot	author=Zhiying	first=Lin	date=3 October 2022	title=何謂載荷專家　在太空站要從事什麼工作？	trans-title=What is a payload specialist? What does a payload specialist do on the space station?	url=https://www.hk01.com/%E5%8D%B3%E6%99%82%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B/821406/%E6%B8%AF%E7%94%A2%E5%A4%AA%E7%A9%BA	website=HK01	language=zh-Hans-HK}}	Orbital Module Astronaut	Descent Module Monitor Astronaut	Operator	System Operator	Payload Specialist (载荷专家)
Shenzhou
Overall mission success, safety of crew and vehicle (001)	Yang Liwei, Shenzhou 5 (first crewed Shenzhou)
Assist Commander and perform mission-specific duties, also has a job to maintain the station platform. (002)	Nie Haisheng, Shenzhou 6 (first flight engineer)
Assisted the Commander during the spacewalk (002)	Liu Boming (astronaut), Shenzhou 7 (first three-person Shenzhou)
He Guided the Crew during the spacewalk inside and during landing (003)	Jing Haipeng, Shenzhou 7 (first three-person Shenzhou)
Assist the Commander at any time, does mission related duties like a mission specialist (002)	Chen Dong, Shenzhou 11
Monitors the key systems during launch and landing, does science and mission related-duties (003)	Tang Hongbo, Shenzhou 12
Civilian astronaut responsible for mission-specific duties (003)	Gui Haichao, Shenzhou 16

International Space Station positions

Position	Duties	Examples
Overall mission success, safety of crew and station	Peggy Whitson, first female commander
Overall mission success, science	Robert Thirsk, first Canadian astronaut to be part of an ISS expedition
Primary responsibility for station's science experiments. A secondary position for an ISS flight engineer.	Peggy Whitson, first science officer	Position established in 2002 by NASA to reinforce science aspect of ISS.
No formal duties.	Anousheh Ansari, first female space tourist	Term used for ISS visitors who are not part of the crew and serves to distinguish tourists and other special travelers from the career astronauts.

Notes

References

Gebhardt. (February 1, 2011). "Space Shuttle Columbia: A New Beginning and Vision".
"Astronauts | Career | Education | Pilot | Commander | Mission Specialist | NASA | Space Shuttle | Flight – Page 1".
Bolden, Charles F.. (2004-01-06). "Charles F. Bolden". NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project.
(2008-10-07). "Astronauts | Career | Education | Pilot | Commander | Mission Specialist | NASA | Space Shuttle | Flight – Page 2".
(2006-03-05). "Space Shuttle Columbia and Her Crew". NASA.
"Launch America: NASA, SpaceX to Launch First Astronauts to Space Station from U.S. Since 2011". National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
McHale, Suzy. "RuSpace – Suzy's Russian space site". Suzy McHale.
"18 picked for nation's 3rd generation of astronauts". China Daily.
Zhiying. (3 October 2022). "何謂載荷專家　在太空站要從事什麼工作？".

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