Who are Payload Specialists typically brought aboard a spacecraft to operate?
Answer
Unique payloads or experiments, often scientists or engineers outside the traditional corps.
Payload Specialists are unique crew members whose inclusion is necessitated by specific research or technological objectives on a given mission. They are often not career astronauts from the traditional corps but rather subject matter experts, such as scientists or engineers, whose primary function is to operate specialized equipment, experiments, or unique technological apparatuses housed within the mission's payload bay or module. Their expertise is highly specific to the hardware they are managing.
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