Astronauts

In the context of the OCESS's annual Mission, the astronauts are the members who enter the Habitat for the purposes of simulating space flight and exploration.

The astronaut positions are coveted amongst members of the OCESS as only a few positions are available, and those who go will always remember the experience. That however is only half the story (or a third if you ignore mission integrity) as two other groups of students exist within the OCESS (these being the Mission Control Staff, and the Simulator) providing an enjoyable experience for all.

Main article: Spacesim Groups

Purpose

The purpose of astronauts is to collect the data from the experiments, simulate living in space, and react to Mission Control's decisions. They are isolated from the outside world for the duration of the mission, during which time they experience the trials and tribulations of space exploration.

Crew Positions

As far as known, in OCESS's early days, crew roles were not specified except the role of the commander. In one account by a exchange member from Lexington, he contrasted the Lexington Simulation's segregation of roles with Lisgar Simulation's flexible duties. When Robbie the Robot was introduced, a specialized position was informally created for its operations. Starting with the 2003-04 Mission to the Moon, OCESS gradually created and formalized astronaut positions.

On more recent missions, several of these positions have been switched out in favour of the older approach of flexible duties, leaving the formal astronaut positions as follows:

Habitat Commander
Habitat Sub-Commander
Pilot
Co-pilot
Medic
Payload Specialist

Note that the rank of Subcommander may be held in addition to another (for example, medic). Note also that not every mission has a Payload Specialist aboard.