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, also known as mariner, denoted a slang term for those who earned their living flying through space, including pilots and crew. Most spacers operated freight, charter, or information collection services, though many also worked or moonlighted as mercenaries, bounty hunters, and smugglers. Some were hyperspace explorers. Other slang terms for "spacer" "spacer" included star-hopper (a term that became famously associated with a group of spacers on Aduba-3), star-jumper, star-rover, and planet-jumper. The term generally applied only to civilians working in spacefaring professions.
Gav Daragon, Han Solo and Chewbacca were examples of spacers.
Behind the scenes
Spacer is used in the Star Wars universe in much the same way that sailor is used in the real world.
Star-hopper was initially used in the first issues of Marvel's Star Wars as a synonym for spacer.
The term spacer referred to the player's character in Star Wars Galaxies. Many of the quests completed by the player are regarded as an integral part of the Expanded Universe; for example, 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 players of Star Wars Galaxies who kill Necrosis in a quest on Kashyyyk.