Does Payload specialists on board of space shuttles ware genuine astronauts?

[linuxgurugamer]

I believe the accepted definition  is someone who has orbited the planet.  So according to that, then yes, they were.

[kerbiloid]

Exclusivity. It rules.
No exclusivity - no exclusive names. Do we call people in a bus "machine riders"?

[magnemoe]

32 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

I believe the accepted definition  is someone who has orbited the planet.  So according to that, then yes, they were.

Accepted one is reaching 100 km attitude. 
That is for the astronaut wings. 

Edited September 26, 2018 by magnemoe

[p1t1o]

3 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Exclusivity. It rules.
No exclusivity - no exclusive names. Do we call people in a bus "machine riders"?

Reminds me of one of my favorite memes:

[KerikBalm]

They went to space, they were an astronaut.

Most astronauts don't fly anything. as part of their "astronauting" - the computers fly what mission control dictates. At most, the astronauts flip switches at the right time. Some exceptions are docking, and moon landings.

On 9/24/2018 at 6:16 PM, tater said:

Were payload specialists on board of Space Shuttles genuine astronauts?

Interesting question. I know that there was always criticism that limited flight spots were being taken by non-career astronauts, with minimal training.

I think that it's going to be interesting to see how the astronaut/cosmonaut labels get applied when space travel is broader than it has been.

I talked for some time with (Senator) Jake Garn, who flew on the Shuttle, for example, and I'd not call him an "astronaut."

 

On 9/24/2018 at 7:07 PM, tater said:

I think this will need to change at some point. Where an "astronaut" is someone who is critical to spaceflight success (meaning they can take over, fix problems, EVA, whatever) as a professional class.

 

Considering we have a lot of spacefligth success with nobody on board... are people on the ground directing the craft astronauts?

I'd rephrase that to "mission success", so non career payload specialists are astronauts because the payload's success is the mission.

Passengers who don't do anything for mission success (in this case, I would exclude "publicity" as a mission, otherwise you'd say a famous person/politician, as a passenger, is crucial to that success), I would exclude.

[kerbiloid]

1 hour ago, KerikBalm said:

are people on the ground directing the craft astronauts?

Why not? All the people are flying through the space, between the stars, inside a giant whirlwind of hydrogen full of floating spheres of pure flame.

That common,, usual. ordinary world known to the everymen, is nothing more than a fragile illusion existing just in our perception of electromagnetic field of the closest mad hell of fusion.

[YNM]

On 9/26/2018 at 10:43 AM, Arugela said:

Define the word astronaut thoroughly and you have the answer technically.

By that standard every sea wave in a harbour is a "tsunami".

[kerbiloid]

Do the hydrologists use the name "tsunami" instead of "wave"?

[YNM]

On 9/26/2018 at 11:51 AM, kerbiloid said:

Do we call people in a bus "machine riders"? 

Depends on your bus.

 

[kerbiloid]

2 minutes ago, YNM said:

Depends on your bus.

But there is only one rider - the driver.

His passengers are like that animal on the windshield. Just sacrificial animals which he is bringing along in case of his successful getting to heavens.

[YNM]

1 hour ago, kerbiloid said:

... in case of his successful getting to heavens. 

Hahah XD

but yeah, such is life...