Template talk:Infobox spaceflight

Template-protected edit request on 28 August 2025

Please apply the sandbox (Template change diff) to the template to add parameters for non-crew (aka non-astronaut/cosmonaut) Spaceflight participants, which are becoming more prevalent with the rise of space tourist flights that don't contain actual commanders/crew.

Also here's the corresponding documentation update so you can just re-apply it (I undid it so it doesn't show up until the edit request is answered): Documentation page update diff.

This will add 4 new parameters to the template:

• participants_count
  • Number of non-crew spaceflight participants aboard the spacecraft
• participants_members
  • Spaceflight participants who launched AND landed aboard the spacecraft
• participants_launching
  • Spaceflight participants who only launched aboard the spacecraft
• participants_landing
  • Spaceflight participants who only landed aboard the spacecraft

You can see the new testcases I've added at Template:Infobox spaceflight/testcases#Spaceflight participants (non-crew) for new sample usage.

And after that various flight missions such as the New Shepard flights and other Space tourism trip flights where Category:Space tourists were onboard as non-crew/commanders can be updated to move those spaceflight participants from the crew_ section to the new section instead. Raladic (talk) 02:17, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

Has there been a discussion about these additions somewhere? Is "participants" the right word? Maybe "passengers" would be more appropriate. Some discussion might be in order, because once you choose a parameter name, it can be tricky to change it if it is not quite right. Also, I see that the category for spaceflight passengers is being discussed, and some people want to delete it entirely. – Jonesey95 (talk) 22:43, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

Spaceflight participants is the official designated terms used by NASA, Roscommon and the FAA instead of Space tourists, which is more of an overarching colloquial term. I raised the category you referenced as its currently called Category:New Shepard passengers, but really the term is Category:New Shepard spaceflight participants per the NASA designation as applicable authority over them. Raladic (talk) 01:57, 29 August 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for the link. I have no objections to this change. If there are no other concerns after a few days, please ping me and I will implement this proposed change. – Jonesey95 (talk) 21:26, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll ping you in a few days then to let other editors chime in if they have any comments :) Raladic (talk) 00:53, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

Looks like no one had any objections and th related Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2025 August 28#Category:New Shepard passengers also closed today with the category being moved.

@Jonesey95 pinging you as promised if you could implement the edit request please :)

Thanks in advance. Raladic (talk) 04:27, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

 Done. Thanks for your patience. Please adjust the documentation. For |participants_members=, I recommend "List of spaceflight participants who both launched and landed aboard the spacecraft". If you do not have the words "List of", you might end up with numbers instead of names. – Jonesey95 (talk) 11:37, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

Will do. Thanks :) Raladic (talk) 14:14, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

@Jonesey95  Done - documentation is updated - I also updated the wording for crew members to add the “list of” to make it clear.

Lmk when you update the template and then we can start populating it for previous flights of spacecraft with participants. Thanks. Raladic (talk) 14:36, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

Semi-major axis

The semi-major axis is (Apogee+Perigee)/2. So what is the point of including it when we already have Periapsis and Apoapsis? It doesn't communicate anything to the reader that the Periapsis and Apoapsis altitude does. Any opposition to removing this parameter from this template? RickyCourtney (talk) 00:46, 14 October 2025 (UTC)