An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight
program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft.
Although generally reserved for professional space travelers, the
terms are sometimes applied to anyone who travels into space,
including scientists, politicians, journalists, and tourists.[1][2]
Starting in the 1950s up to 2002, astronauts were sponsored and
trained exclusively by governments, either by the military or by
civilian space agencies. With the suborbital flight of the privately
funded
SpaceShipOne

SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of astronaut was created:
the commercial astronaut.
Contents
1 Definition
2 Terminology
2.1 English
2.2 Russian
2.3 Chinese
2.4 Other terms
3 Space travel milestones
3.1 Age milestones
3.2 Duration and distance milestones
3.3 Civilian and non-government milestones
3.4 Self-funded travelers
4 Training
4.1
NASA

NASA candidacy requirements
4.1.1 Commander and Pilot
4.1.2 Mission Specialist
4.1.3 Mission Specialist Educator
5 Health risks of space travel
6 Food and drink
7 Insignia
8 Deaths
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
Definition
Alan Shepard

Alan Shepard aboard Freedom 7
The criteria for what constitutes human spaceflight vary. The
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) Sporting Code for
astronautics recognizes only flights that exceed an altitude of 100
kilometers (62 mi).[3] In the United States, professional,
military, and commercial astronauts who travel above an altitude of 50
miles (80 km)[4] are awarded astronaut wings.
As of 17 November 2016[update], a total of 552 people from
36 countries have reached 100 km (62 mi) or more in
altitude, of which 549 reached low Earth orbit or beyond.[5] Of these,
24 people have traveled beyond low Earth orbit, either to lunar orbit,
the lunar surface, or, in one case, a loop around the Moon.[6] Three
of the 24–Jim Lovell, John Young and Eugene Cernan–did so
twice.[7] The three current[when?] astronauts who have flown without
reaching low Earth orbit are spaceplane pilots Joe Walker, Mike
Melvill, and Brian Binnie, who participated in suborbital missions.
As of 17 November 2016[update], under the U.S. definition,
558 people qualify as having reached space, above 50 miles
(80 km) altitude. Of eight
X-15

X-15 pilots who exceeded 50 miles
(80 km) in altitude, only one exceeded 100 kilometers (about 62
miles).[5] Space travelers have spent over 41,790 man-days (114.5
man-years) in space, including over 100 astronaut-days of
spacewalks.[8][9] As of 2016[update], the man with the longest
cumulative time in space is Gennady Padalka, who has spent 879 days in
space.[10] Peggy A. Whitson holds the record for the most time in
space by a woman, 377 days.[11]
Terminology
See also:
Astronaut

Astronaut ranks and positions
In 1959, when both the
United States

United States and
Soviet Union
.jpg/460px-Soviet_Union-1964-stamp-Chapayev_(film).jpg)
Soviet Union were planning,
but had yet to launch humans into space,
NASA

NASA Administrator T. Keith
Glennan and his Deputy Administrator, Dr. Hugh Dryden, discussed
whether spacecraft crew members should be called astronauts or
cosmonauts. Dryden preferred "cosmonaut", on the grounds that flights
would occur in the cosmos (near space), while the "astro" prefix
suggested flight to the stars. Most
NASA

NASA
Space Task Group

Space Task Group members
preferred "astronaut", which survived by common usage as the preferred
American term.[12] When the
Soviet Union
.jpg/460px-Soviet_Union-1964-stamp-Chapayev_(film).jpg)
Soviet Union launched the first man into
space,
Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Gagarin in 1961, they chose a term which anglicizes to
"cosmonaut".
English
In English-speaking nations, a professional space traveler is called
an astronaut.[13] The term derives from the Greek words ástron
(ἄστρον), meaning "star", and nautes (ναύτης), meaning
"sailor". The first known use of the term "astronaut" in the modern
sense was by
Neil R. Jones

Neil R. Jones in his 1930 short story "The Death's Head
Meteor". The word itself had been known earlier; for example, in Percy
Greg's 1880 book Across the Zodiac, "astronaut" referred to a
spacecraft. In Les Navigateurs de l'Infini (1925) by J.-H. Rosny
aîné, the word astronautique (astronautic) was used. The word may
have been inspired by "aeronaut", an older term for an air traveler
first applied in 1784 to balloonists. An early use of "astronaut" in a
non-fiction publication is Eric Frank Russell's poem "The Astronaut",
appearing in the November 1934 Bulletin of the British Interplanetary
Society.[14]
The first known formal use of the term astronautics in the scientific
community was the establishment of the annual International
Astronautical Congress in 1950, and the subsequent founding of the
International Astronautical Federation the following year.[15]
NASA

NASA applies the term astronaut to any crew member aboard NASA
spacecraft bound for Earth orbit or beyond.
NASA

NASA also uses the term as
a title for those selected to join its
Astronaut

Astronaut Corps.[16] The
European Space Agency

European Space Agency similarly uses the term astronaut for members of
its
Astronaut

Astronaut Corps.[17]
Russian
Main article: Soviet space program
See also: List of cosmonauts
By convention, an astronaut employed by the Russian Federal Space
Agency (or its Soviet predecessor) is called a cosmonaut in English
texts.[16] The word is an anglicisation of the Russian word kosmonavt
(Russian: космонавт Russian
pronunciation: [kəsmɐˈnaft]), one who works in space outside
the Earth's atmosphere, a space traveler,[18] which derives from the
Greek words kosmos (κόσμος), meaning "universe", and nautes
(ναύτης), meaning "sailor". Other countries of the former
Eastern Bloc

Eastern Bloc use variations of the Russian word kosmonavt, such as the
Polish kosmonauta.
Coinage of the term kosmonavt has been credited to Soviet aeronautics
pioneer
Mikhail Tikhonravov

Mikhail Tikhonravov (1900–1974).[19][20] The first cosmonaut
was
Soviet Air Force

Soviet Air Force pilot Yuri Gagarin, also the first person in
space. Valentina Tereshkova, a Russian factory worker, was the first
woman in space, as well as the first civilian among the Soviet
cosmonaut or
NASA

NASA astronaut corps to make a spaceflight. On March 14,
1995,
Norman Thagard

Norman Thagard became the first American to ride to space on
board a Russian launch vehicle, and thus became the first "American
cosmonaut".
Chinese
Main article: Chinese space program
See also: List of Chinese astronauts
"Yǔ háng yuán" (宇航员, "Space-universe navigating personnel")
is used for astronauts and cosmonauts in general[21][22], while
"Hángtiān yuán" (航天员, "navigating outer space personnel") is
used for Chinese astronauts. Here, "Hángtiān" (航天) is strictly
defined as the navigation of outer space within the local star system,
i.e. Solar system. The phrase "tài kōng rén" (太空人,
"spaceman") is often used in
Hong Kong
_(_all_claims_hatched).svg/580px-Hong_Kong_in_China_(zoomed)_(_all_claims_hatched).svg.png)
Hong Kong and Taiwan.[23]
The term taikonaut is used by some English-language news media
organizations for professional space travelers from China.[24] The
word has featured in the
Longman

Longman and Oxford English dictionaries, the
latter of which describes it as "a hybrid of the Chinese term taikong
(space) and the Greek naut (sailor)"; the term became more common in
2003 when
China

China sent its first astronaut
Yang Liwei

Yang Liwei into space aboard
the
Shenzhou 5

Shenzhou 5 spacecraft.[25] This is the term used by Xinhua News
Agency in the English version of the Chinese
People's Daily

People's Daily since the
advent of the Chinese space program.[26] The origin of the term is
unclear; as early as May 1998, Chiew Lee Yih (趙裡昱) from
Malaysia, used it in newsgroups.[27][28]
Other terms
With the rise of space tourism,
NASA

NASA and the Russian Federal Space
Agency agreed to use the term "spaceflight participant" to distinguish
those space travelers from professional astronauts on missions
coordinated by those two agencies.
While no nation other than the Russian Federation (and previously the
former Soviet Union), the United States, and
China

China have launched a
manned spacecraft, several other nations have sent people into space
in cooperation with one of these countries. Inspired partly by these
missions, other synonyms for astronaut have entered occasional English
usage. For example, the term spationaut (French spelling: spationaute)
is sometimes used to describe French space travelers, from the Latin
word spatium for "space", the Malay term angkasawan was used to
describe participants in the Angkasawan program, and the Indian Space
Research Organisation hope to launch a spacecraft in 2018 that would
carry vyomanauts, coined from the
Sanskrit

Sanskrit word for space.
Space travel milestones
Yuri Gagarin, first human in space (1961)
Valentina Tereshkova, first woman in space (1963)
Neil Armstrong, first human to walk on the Moon (1969)
Dr. Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut (1980s)
Yang Liwei, first person sent into space by
China

China (2003)
See also:
Spaceflight records

Spaceflight records and Timeline of space travel by
nationality
The first human in space was Soviet Yuri Gagarin, who was launched on
April 12, 1961, aboard
Vostok 1

Vostok 1 and orbited around the Earth for 108
minutes. The first woman in space was Soviet Valentina Tereshkova, who
launched on June 16, 1963, aboard
Vostok 6

Vostok 6 and orbited Earth for
almost three days.
Alan Shepard

Alan Shepard became the first American and second person in space on
May 5, 1961, on a 15-minute sub-orbital flight. The first American to
orbit the Earth was John Glenn, aboard
Friendship 7

Friendship 7 on February 20,
1962. The first American woman in space was Sally Ride, during Space
Shuttle Challenger's mission STS-7, on June 18, 1983.[29] In 1992 Mae
Jemison became the first African American woman to travel in space
aboard STS-47.
Cosmonaut
Alexei Leonov

Alexei Leonov was the first person to conduct an
extravehicular activity (EVA), (commonly called a "spacewalk"), on
March 18, 1965, on the Soviet Union's Voskhod 2 mission. This was
followed two and a half months later by astronaut Ed White who made
the first American EVA on NASA's Gemini 4 mission.[30]
The first manned mission to orbit the Moon, Apollo 8, included
American
William Anders

William Anders who was born in Hong Kong, making him the
first Asian-born astronaut in 1968.
The Soviet Union, through its
Intercosmos

Intercosmos program, allowed people from
other "socialist" (i.e.
Warsaw Pact
.svg/360px-Warsaw_Pact_in_1990_(orthographic_projection).svg.png)
Warsaw Pact and other Soviet-allied) countries
to fly on its missions, with the notable exception of France
participating in Soyuz TM-7. An example is
Czechoslovak

Czechoslovak Vladimír
Remek, the first cosmonaut from a country other than the Soviet Union
or the United States, who flew to space in 1978 on a Soyuz-U
rocket.[31]
On July 23, 1980,
Pham Tuan

Pham Tuan of
Vietnam

Vietnam became the first Asian in space
when he flew aboard Soyuz 37.[32] Also in 1980, Cuban Arnaldo Tamayo
Méndez became the first person of
Hispanic

Hispanic and black African descent
to fly in space, and in 1983,
Guion Bluford

Guion Bluford became the first African
American to fly into space. In April 1985,
Taylor Wang
_Signature.png/360px-T._Wang_(Taylor_Wang)_Signature.png)
Taylor Wang became the
first ethnic Chinese person in space.[33][34] The first person born in
Africa to fly in space was
Patrick Baudry

Patrick Baudry (France), in 1985.[35][36]
In 1985, Saudi Arabian Prince Sultan Bin Salman Bin AbdulAziz Al-Saud
became the first Arab Muslim astronaut in space.[37] In 1988, Abdul
Ahad Mohmand became the first Afghan to reach space, spending nine
days aboard the
Mir

Mir space station.[38]
With the increase of seats on the Space Shuttle, the U.S. began taking
international astronauts. In 1983,
Ulf Merbold

Ulf Merbold of West
Germany

Germany became
the first non-US citizen to fly in a US spacecraft. In 1984, Marc
Garneau became the first of 8
Canadian astronauts

Canadian astronauts to fly in space
(through 2010).[39] In 1985,
Rodolfo Neri Vela

Rodolfo Neri Vela became the first
Mexican-born person in space.[40] In 1991,
Helen Sharman

Helen Sharman became the
first Briton to fly in space.[41] In 2002,
Mark Shuttleworth

Mark Shuttleworth became
the first citizen of an African country to fly in space, as a paying
spaceflight participant.[42] In 2003,
Ilan Ramon

Ilan Ramon became the first
Israeli to fly in space, although he died during a re-entry accident.
On October 15, 2003,
Yang Liwei

Yang Liwei became China's first astronaut on the
Shenzhou 5

Shenzhou 5 spacecraft.
Age milestones
The youngest person to fly in space is Gherman Titov, who was 25 years
old when he flew Vostok 2. (Titov was also the first person to suffer
space sickness).[43][44] The oldest person who has flown in space is
John Glenn, who was 77 when he flew on STS-95.[45]
Duration and distance milestones
438 days is the longest time spent in space, by Russian Valeri
Polyakov.[8] As of 2006, the most spaceflights by an individual
astronaut is seven, a record held by both
Jerry L. Ross and Franklin
Chang-Diaz. The farthest distance from Earth an astronaut has traveled
was 401,056 km (249,205 mi), when Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert,
and
Fred Haise

Fred Haise went around the Moon during the
Apollo 13

Apollo 13 emergency.[8]
Civilian and non-government milestones
The first civilian in space was Valentina Tereshkova[46] aboard Vostok
6 (she also became the first woman in space on that mission).
Tereshkova was only honorarily inducted into the USSR's Air Force,
which did not accept female pilots at that time. A month later, Joseph
Albert Walker became the first American civilian in space when his
X-15

X-15 Flight 90 crossed the 100 kilometers (54 nautical miles) line,
qualifying him by the international definition of spaceflight.[47][48]
Walker had joined the US Army Air Force but was not a member during
his flight. The first people in space who had never been a member of
any country's armed forces were both
Konstantin Feoktistov

Konstantin Feoktistov and Boris
Yegorov aboard Voskhod 1.
The first non-governmental space traveler was Byron K. Lichtenberg, a
researcher from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology who flew on
STS-9

STS-9 in 1983.[49] In December 1990,
Toyohiro Akiyama

Toyohiro Akiyama became the first
paying space traveler as a reporter for Tokyo Broadcasting System, a
visit to
Mir

Mir as part of an estimated $12 million (USD) deal with a
Japanese TV station, although at the time, the term used to refer to
Akiyama was "Research Cosmonaut".[50][51][52] Akiyama suffered severe
space sickness during his mission, which affected his
productivity.[51]
The first self-funded space tourist was
Dennis Tito

Dennis Tito on board the
Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-3 on April 28, 2001.
Self-funded travelers
Main article: Space tourism
The first person to fly on an entirely privately funded mission was
Mike Melvill, piloting
SpaceShipOne

SpaceShipOne flight 15P on a suborbital
journey, although he was a test pilot employed by Scaled Composites
and not an actual paying space tourist.[53][54] Seven others have paid
the
Russian Space Agency

Russian Space Agency to fly into space:
Dennis Tito

Dennis Tito (American): April 28 – May 6, 2001 (ISS)
Mark Shuttleworth

Mark Shuttleworth (South African): April 25 – May 5, 2002 (ISS)
Gregory Olsen

Gregory Olsen (American): October 1–11, 2005 (ISS)
Anousheh Ansari

Anousheh Ansari (Iranian / American): September 18–29, 2006 (ISS)
Charles Simonyi

Charles Simonyi (Hungarian / American): April 7–21, 2007 (ISS),
March 26 – April 8, 2009 (ISS)
Richard Garriott

Richard Garriott (British / American): October 12–24, 2008 (ISS)
Guy Laliberté

Guy Laliberté (Canadian): September 30, 2009 – October 11, 2009
(ISS)
Training
Elliot See

Elliot See during water egress training with
NASA

NASA (1965)
Main article:
Astronaut

Astronaut Training
See also:
Astronaut

Astronaut ranks and positions
The first
NASA

NASA astronauts were selected for training in 1959.[55]
Early in the space program, military jet test piloting and engineering
training were often cited as prerequisites for selection as an
astronaut at NASA, although neither
John Glenn

John Glenn nor Scott Carpenter (of
the Mercury Seven) had any university degree, in engineering or any
other discipline at the time of their selection. Selection was
initially limited to military pilots.[56][57] The earliest astronauts
for both America and the USSR tended to be jet fighter pilots, and
were often test pilots.
Once selected,
NASA

NASA astronauts go through twenty months of training in
a variety of areas, including training for extravehicular activity in
a facility such as NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.[1][56]
Astronauts-in-training (astronaut candidates) may also experience
short periods of weightlessness (microgravity) in an aircraft called
the "Vomit Comet," the nickname given to a pair of modified KC-135s
(retired in 2000 and 2004, respectively, and replaced in 2005 with a
C-9) which perform parabolic flights.[55] Astronauts are also required
to accumulate a number of flight hours in high-performance jet
aircraft. This is mostly done in T-38 jet aircraft out of Ellington
Field, due to its proximity to the Johnson Space Center. Ellington
Field is also where the
Shuttle Training Aircraft

Shuttle Training Aircraft is maintained and
developed, although most flights of the aircraft are conducted from
Edwards Air Force Base.
Astronauts is training must learn how to control and fly the Space
Shuttle and, it is vital that they are familiar with the International
Space Station so they know what they must do when they get there.[58]
NASA

NASA candidacy requirements
Be citizens of the United States.[55][59]
Pass a strict physical examination, and have a near and distant visual
acuity correctable to 20/20 (6/6). Blood pressure, while sitting, must
be no greater than 140 over 90. There are currently no age
restrictions.[60]
Commander and Pilot
A bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical
science or mathematics is required.
At least 1,000 hours' flying time as pilot-in-command in jet aircraft.
Experience as a test pilot is desirable.
Height must be 5 ft 2 in to 6 ft 2 in (1.58 m to
1.88 m).
Distant visual acuity must be correctable to 20/20 in each eye.
The refractive surgical procedures of the eye, PRK (Photorefractive
keratectomy) and LASIK, are now allowed, providing at least 1 year has
passed since the date of the procedure with no permanent adverse after
effects. For those applicants under final consideration, an operative
report on the surgical procedure will be requested.
Mission Specialist
A bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical
science or mathematics, as well as at least three years of related
professional experience (graduate work or studies) and an advanced
degree, such as a master's degree (one to three years) or a doctoral
degree (three years or more).
Applicant's height must be between 4 ft 10.5 in and 6 ft 4
in (1.49 m and 1.93 m).
Mission Specialist Educator
Main article: Educator
Astronaut

Astronaut Project
Applicants must have a bachelor's degree with teaching experience,
including work at the kindergarten through twelfth grade level. An
advanced degree, such as a master's degree or a doctoral degree, is
not required, but is strongly desired.[61]
Mission Specialist Educators, or "Educator Astronauts", were first
selected in 2004, and as of 2007, there are three
NASA

NASA Educator
astronauts: Joseph M. Acaba, Richard R. Arnold, and Dorothy
Metcalf-Lindenburger.[62][63] Barbara Morgan, selected as back-up
teacher to
Christa McAuliffe

Christa McAuliffe in 1985, is considered to be the first
Educator astronaut by the media, but she trained as a mission
specialist.[64] The Educator
Astronaut

Astronaut program is a successor to the
Teacher in Space

Teacher in Space program from the 1980s.[65][66]
Health risks of space travel
Gennady Padalka

Gennady Padalka performing ultrasound on
Michael Fincke

Michael Fincke during ISS
Expedition 9.
See also:
Effect of spaceflight on the human body

Effect of spaceflight on the human body and Space medicine
Astronauts are susceptible to a variety of health risks including
decompression sickness, barotrauma, immunodeficiencies, loss of bone
and muscle, loss of eyesight, orthostatic intolerance, sleep
disturbances, and radiation
injury.[67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76] A variety of large
scale medical studies are being conducted in space via the National
Space and Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) to address these
issues. Prominent among these is the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in
Microgravity Study in which astronauts (including former ISS
commanders
Leroy Chiao

Leroy Chiao and Gennady Padalka) perform ultrasound scans
under the guidance of remote experts to diagnose and potentially treat
hundreds of medical conditions in space. This study's techniques are
now being applied to cover professional and Olympic sports injuries as
well as ultrasound performed by non-expert operators in medical and
high school students. It is anticipated that remote guided ultrasound
will have application on Earth in emergency and rural care situations,
where access to a trained physician is often rare.[77][78][79]
A 2006
Space Shuttle

Space Shuttle experiment found that Salmonella typhimurium, a
bacterium that can cause food poisoning, became more virulent when
cultivated in space.[80] More recently, in 2017, bacteria were found
to be more resistant to antibiotics and to thrive in the
near-weightlessness of space.[81] Microorganisms have been observed to
survive the vacuum of outer space.[82][83]
On December 31, 2012, a NASA-supported study reported that manned
spaceflight may harm the brain and accelerate the onset of Alzheimer's
disease.[84][85][86]
In October 2015, the
NASA

NASA Office of Inspector General issued a health
hazards report related to space exploration, including a human mission
to Mars.[87][88]
Over the last decade, flight surgeons and scientists at
NASA

NASA have seen
a pattern of vision problems in astronauts on long-duration space
missions. The syndrome, known as visual impairment intracranial
pressure (VIIP), has been reported in nearly two-thirds of space
explorers after long periods spent aboard the International Space
Station (ISS).
On November 2, 2017, scientists reported that significant changes in
the position and structure of the brain have been found in astronauts
who have taken trips in space, based on MRI studies. Astronauts who
took longer space trips were associated with greater brain
changes.[89][90]
Being in space can be physiologically deconditioning on the
body. It can affect the otolith organs and adaptive capabilities of
the central nervous system. Zero gravity and cosmic rays can cause
many implications for astronauts. [91]
Food and drink
Main article: space food
An astronaut on the
International Space Station

International Space Station requires about 0.83
kilograms (1.83 pounds) weight of food inclusive of food packaging per
meal each day. (The packaging for each meal weighs around 0.12
kilograms - 0.27 pounds) Longer-duration missions require more food.
Shuttle astronauts worked with nutritionists to select menus that
appeal to their individual tastes. Five months before flight, menus
are selected and analyzed for nutritional content by the shuttle
dietician. Foods are tested to see how they will react in a reduced
gravity environment. Caloric requirements are determined using a basal
energy expenditure (BEE) formula. On Earth, the average American uses
about 35 gallons (132 liters) of water every day. On board the ISS
astronauts limit water use to only about three gallons (11 liters) per
day.[92]
Insignia
In Russia, cosmonauts are awarded Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian
Federation upon completion of their missions, often accompanied with
the award of Hero of the Russian Federation. This follows the practice
established in the USSR where cosmonauts were usually awarded the
title Hero of the Soviet Union.
At NASA, those who complete astronaut candidate training receive a
silver lapel pin. Once they have flown in space, they receive a gold
pin. U.S. astronauts who also have active-duty military status receive
a special qualification badge, known as the
Astronaut

Astronaut Badge, after
participation on a spaceflight. The
United States Air Force

United States Air Force also
presents an
Astronaut Badge

Astronaut Badge to its pilots who exceed 50 miles
(80 km) in altitude.
Space Mirror Memorial
Deaths
Main article: List of spaceflight-related accidents and incidents
§
Astronaut

Astronaut fatalities
Eighteen astronauts (fourteen men and four women) have lost their
lives during four space flights. By nationality, thirteen were
American (including one born in India), four were Russian (Soviet
Union), and one was Israeli.
Eleven people (all men) have lost their lives training for
spaceflight: eight Americans and three Russians. Six of these were in
crashes of training jet aircraft, one drowned during water recovery
training, and four were due to fires in pure oxygen environments.
The Space Mirror Memorial, which stands on the grounds of the John F.
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, commemorates the lives of the
men and women who have died during spaceflight and during training in
the space programs of the United States. In addition to twenty NASA
career astronauts, the memorial includes the names of a U.S. Air Force
X-15

X-15 test pilot, a
U.S. Air Force

U.S. Air Force officer who died while training for
a then-classified military space program, and a civilian spaceflight
participant.
See also
Spaceflight

Spaceflight portal
Boundary of Space
Commercial astronaut
Cosmonautics Day
Fallen Astronaut
J-Wear
List of astronauts by name
List of astronauts by year of selection
List of cosmonauts
Lists of fictional astronauts
List of human spaceflights
List of space travelers by name
List of space travelers by nationality
Lists of spacewalks and moonwalks
Mercury 13

Mercury 13 - 13 inactive women astronauts
North American
X-15

X-15 program
Shirley Thomas - author, Men of Space (1960–1968)
List of spaceflight records
Space food
Space suit
Timeline of space travel by nationality
U.S. space exploration history on U.S. stamps
United States

United States
Astronaut

Astronaut Hall of Fame
Women in space
Yuri's Night
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NASA

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Astronaut

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^ FAI Sporting Code, Section 8, Paragraph 2.18.1
^ Whelan, Mary (June 5, 2013). "
X-15

X-15 Space Pioneers Now Honored as
Astronauts".
^ a b "Astronaut/Cosmonaut Statistics". www.worldspaceflight.com.
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^
Apollo 13

Apollo 13 had to abort an intended lunar landing, and looped around
the Moon to return its three astronauts to Earth.
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Astronaut

Astronaut Statistics – as
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^
NASA

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2007.
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^ Dethloff, Henry C. (1993). "Chapter 2: The Commitment to Space".
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External links
Look up cosmonaut, spationaut, astronaut, or taikonaut in Wiktionary,
the free dictionary.
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NASA: How to become an astronaut 101
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Manned astronautics: facts and figures
Astronaut

Astronaut Candidate Brochure online
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