Spacer/Legends

"Drink it down, boys, for the black of space is cold. Drink it down, boys, for it's always better to live hard and die young than live not and die old."

- A spacer's toast

Spacer, or mariner, was a slang term that referred to those who made their livings flying through space, including pilots and crew. Most spacers ran freight, charter, or information collection operations, although many worked or moonlighted as mercenaries, bounty hunters, and smugglers. Some were hyperspace explorers. Other slang terms for "spacer" included star-hopper (which became famously attached to a group of spacers on Aduba-3), star-jumper, star-rover, and planet-jumper. The term was usually used only to describe civilians within spacefaring professions.

Gav Daragon, Han Solo and Chewbacca were examples of spacers.

Behind the scenes
Spacer is used much in the same way that sailor is used today.

Star-hopper was originally used in the first issues of Marvel's Star Wars as a synonym of spacer.

The term spacer was used to refer to the player's character in Star Wars Galaxies. Many of the quests completed by the player are considered an integral part of the Expanded Universe; for instance, in The Story of General Grievous: Lord of War, author Abel G. Peña attributed the death of Necrosis to "a motley band of spacers," referring to Star Wars Galaxies players, who kill Necrosis in a quest on Kashyyyk.