Astronaut

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An astronaut is a trained person who travels into space as part of a space program. The name comes from Greek roots meaning “star” and “sailor.” Most astronauts are career space professionals, but some are scientists, journalists, politicians, or space tourists who go into space.

Different names in different countries
- Astronaut: common in the United States and Europe.
- Cosmonaut: used for Russian and former Soviet space travelers.
- Taikonaut: a term you may hear for Chinese space travelers; officially in China they are called hángtiānyuán, and media sometimes use taikonaut.
- In many places, people who fly with governments or private companies are all generally called astronauts, but some groups use different titles for specific roles.

What counts as space
- Different groups use slightly different boundaries, but many people place the edge of space at about 100 kilometers up (the Kármán line).
- In the United States, there are awards for flying above about 80 kilometers, and the exact definitions can vary by agency.
- There are also “spaceflight participants,” or space tourists, who travel without being professional astronauts.

A brief history and who becomes an astronaut
- The first people in space were Yuri Gagarin (Soviet) and Alan Shepard (American) in 1961.
- The first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova in 1963; the first American woman in space was Sally Ride in 1983.
- The first Chinese astronaut was Yang Liwei in 2003.
- The number of people who have flown in space is in the hundreds, with ongoing private and national programs adding new travelers.

Training and life as an astronaut
- NASA and other agencies train astronauts for about 20 months before flights. Training covers piloting, spacewalking, spacecraft systems, and living in space.
- Astronaut candidates practice in large pools that simulate weightlessness and in aircraft that create brief periods of microgravity.
- They also learn about the International Space Station and how to work there safely.
- On the Space Shuttle and aboard the ISS, meals are carefully planned, and water use is managed tightly. Astronauts eat special foods and keep track of nutrition and hygiene in space.

Health and safety
- Space travel brings health risks such as bone and muscle loss, vision changes, immune system effects, and radiation exposure.
- Studies in space help scientists understand how the body adapts and how to reduce risks on long missions.

Awards, ranks, and memorials
- In the United States, astronauts who fly often earn wings and badges; Russia has its own titles like Pilot-Cosmonaut.
- Memorials honor those who died in spaceflight or in training. One well-known memorial is the Fallen Astronaut statue on the Moon; another is the Space Mirror Memorial at Kennedy Space Center.

A look to the future
- As more private companies fly people to space, the category of traveler keeps growing.
- Some programs, like Europe’s ESA, are exploring new possibilities, including broader access to space for people with different abilities.

Astronauts, cosmonauts, and taikonauts all share the core idea: they are people trained to explore space, contributing to science, technology, and humanity’s understanding of the cosmos.