Astronaut ranks and positions

Not to be confused with United States Space Force rank.

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	Comments
Mercury
Pilot	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 feet 11 inches (180 cm) tall and weigh no more than 180 pounds (82 kg).
Gemini
Command Pilot	Overall mission success, safety of crew and spacecraft	James McDivitt	McDivitt was the first rookie Command Pilot.
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	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. Apollo 11 Backup Commander: Jim Lovell, Commander of Apollo 13.
Command Module Pilot	Responsible 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 Pilot	Flight 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
Docking Module Pilot		Deke Slayton, Mercury 7 astronaut, Backup DMP: Jack Lousma	Position only used once during Apollo–Soyuz joint mission
Skylab
Commander	Overall mission success, safety of crew and spacecraft	Pete Conrad, first Skylab commander
Pilot		Paul J. Weitz
Science Pilot		Joseph P. Kerwin, first American physician in space
Space Shuttle
Commander (CDR)	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.
Pilot (PLT)	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 (PLC)	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.
Mission Specialist (MS)	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.
Flight Engineer (FE)	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	The FE is always mission specialist 2 (MS-2) and sits in seat 4 on the Shuttle flight deck for both launch and landing.
Payload Specialist (PS)	Technical experts who accompanied specific payloads such as a commercial or scientific satellites.	Byron K. Lichtenberg, first payload specialist Ulf Merbold, first international payload specialist Charles Walker, flew three times Ilan Ramon, last payload specialist	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.
Educator Mission Specialist	Same as mission specialist but with additional education-related duties.	Joseph M. Acaba, first Puerto Rican astronaut	Position created in 2004 as part of the Educator Astronaut Project.
International Mission Specialist	Same as mission specialist but may have had payload-specific duties assigned by home agency.	Hans Schlegel
USAF Manned Spaceflight Engineer	Same as payload specialist, but were military personnel who accompanied military payloads.	Gary Payton	Payton and William A. Pailes were the only Manned Spaceflight Engineers to fly before the program's termination in 1988.
Spaceflight Participant	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
Spacecraft Commander	Overall mission success, safety of crew and spacecraft, manages ascent and entry	Douglas G. Hurley, Demo-2
Joint Operations Commander	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.
Pilot	Assist the Spacecraft Commander in maneuvering the capsule.	Victor Glover, Crew-1	Used on NASA contracted Crew Dragon flights starting with Crew-1.
Mission Specialist	A NASA or affiliated astronaut with mission-specific duties.	Soichi Noguchi, first Crew Dragon Mission Specialist, Shannon Walker, Crew-1	Used on NASA contracted Crew Dragon flights starting with Crew-1.
Artemis program
Commander	Overall mission success, safety of crew and spacecraft.	Reid Wiseman, Artemis 2
Pilot		Victor Glover, Artemis 2
Mission Specialist	A NASA or affiliated astronaut with mission-specific duties.	Jeremy Hansen, Artemis 2
Payload Specialist	A NASA or affiliated astronaut with engineering - mission specific duties

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 (Russian: космонавт испытатель, romanized: kosmonavt ispytatel) or a research cosmonaut (Russian: космонавт исследователь, romanized: kosmonavt issledovatel). 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.

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	Comments
Vostok
Pilot Cosmonaut	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
Commander	Overall mission success, safety of crew and spacecraft	Vladimir Komarov, commanded the first multi-person flight
Second Pilot		Alexei Leonov, the first person to perform a spacewalk
Scientist Cosmonaut		Konstantin Feoktistov, the first engineer in space
Doctor Cosmonaut		Boris Yegorov, the first doctor in space
Soyuz
Commander	Overall mission success, safety of crew and spacecraft	Vladimir Dzhanibekov, commander of missions to Salyut 6 and Salyut 7 space stations
Flight Engineer	One or two flight engineers per mission. Assist Commander and perform mission-specific duties	Svetlana Savitskaya, the first female to perform a spacewalk
Spaceflight Participant	No official duties	Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, first Malaysian in space Dennis Tito, first fee-paying space tourist	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
Shenzhou
Commander (指挥长)	Overall mission success, safety of crew and vehicle	Yang Liwei, Shenzhou 5 (first crewed Shenzhou)
Spacecraft Pilot
Flight Engineer (操作手/飞行工程师)	Assist Commander and perform mission-specific duties	Nie Haisheng, Shenzhou 6 (first flight engineer)
Orbital Module Astronaut	EVA Crew Member	Liu Boming (astronaut), Shenzhou 7 (first three-person Shenzhou)
Descent Module Monitor Astronaut	Intravehicular Specialist of the Eva	Jing Haipeng, Shenzhou 7 (first three-person Shenzhou)
Operator	Help the Commander navigate the spacecraft	Chen Dong, Shenzhou 11
System Operator	Daily work in the station and experiments (This was during the Shenzhou 12-14 missions)	Tang Hongbo, Shenzhou 12
Science Specialist	Similar to System Operator but more inclined to science (starting with Shenzhou 15)	Zhang Lu, Shenzhou 15
Payload Specialist (载荷专家)	Civilian astronaut responsible for mission-specific duties	Gui Haichao, Shenzhou 16

International Space Station positions

Position	Duties	Examples	Comments
Commander	Overall mission success, safety of crew and Station.	Peggy Whitson, first female commander
Flight Engineer	Overall mission success, science	Robert Thirsk, first Canadian astronaut to be part of an ISS expedition
Science Officer	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.
Spaceflight Participant	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.

See also

• NASA Astronaut Groups – the phases of astronaut selection

External links

• Shuttle Commander and Pilot definitions
• Shuttle PLC, MS, and PS definitions