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An astronaut derives from the Ancient Greek astron, meaning “star,” and nautes, meaning “sailor,” is someone who has been trained, equipped, and deployed as a commander or crew member onboard a spacecraft by a human spaceflight program. Although the phrase is usually reserved for professional space travelers, it is occasionally applied to anybody who journeys into space, including scientists, politicians, journalists, and tourists.
See the fact file below for more information about Astronauts, or download the comprehensive worksheet pack, which contains over 11 worksheets and can be used in the classroom or homeschooling environment.
Key Facts & Information
OVERVIEW
- Technically, “astronaut” refers to all human space explorers, regardless of nationality. However, astronauts from Russia or the Soviet Union are commonly referred to as cosmonauts (from the Russian “kosmos”), which means “space,” also borrowed from Greek.
- China‘s relatively recent advances in crewed spaceflight have given birth to the name taikonaut (from the Mandarin “tàikng,” meaning “space”). However, its use is relatively informal, and its origin is unknown—the People’s Liberation Army Astronauts.
- Corps astronauts and their international equivalents are all officially referred to as hángtinyuán, which translates to “heaven navigator” or “heaven-sailing crew”).
- Six hundred people have traveled in space since 1961. Until 2002, astronauts were only funded and educated by governments, either military or civilian space organizations.
- The suborbital flight of the confidentially funded SpaceShipOne in 2004 established a new type of astronaut: the commercial astronaut.
TERMINOLOGY
- T. Keith Glennan, a NASA Administrator, and his Deputy Administrator, Hugh Dryden, debated whether spacecraft crew members should be named astronauts or cosmonauts in 1959 when both the United States and the Soviet Union were preparing but had yet to send humans into space.
- Dryden chose “cosmonaut” because flights will take place in and to the larger cosmos, whereas “Astro” implied flying, particularly to the stars.
- Most NASA Space Task Group members favored the name “astronaut,” widely used as the preferred American term. When the Soviet Union embarked Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961, they used a phrase that translates to “cosmonaut.”
ASTRONAUT
- An astronaut is a professional space traveler. Neil R. Jones used the term “astronaut” in the modern sense for the first time in his 1930 short tale “The Death’s Head Meteor.”
- The term “astronaut” has previously been used to allude to a spaceship in Percy Greg’s 1880 novel Across the Zodiac.
- Les Navigateurs de l’Infini, by J.-H. The term astronautique (astronautic) was used by Rosny aîné. The phrase may have been influenced by “aeronaut,” an earlier term for an air traveler originally used by balloonists in 1784.
- Eric Frank Russell’s poem “The Astronaut,” published in the November 1934 Bulletin of the British Interplanetary Society, is an early usage of the term “astronaut” in a non-fiction publication.
- The word astronautics was first used in the scientific community with the formation of the biennial International Astronautical Congress in 1950, followed by the foundation of the International Astronautical Federation the following year.
- The word astronaut refers to any crew member onboard a NASA spacecraft heading for Earth orbit or beyond. NASA also uses the phrase as a designation for individuals chosen to join its Astronaut Corps. The European Space Agency’s Astronaut Corps members are also referred to as astronauts.
- On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first astronaut when he launched into space aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft. The ship completed one orbit around our planet, making him the first human to do so.
COSMONAUT
- In English, an astronaut hired by the Russian Federal Space Agency (or its Soviet predecessor) is a cosmonaut. The term is an Anglicization of the Greek kosmonavt.
- Other former Eastern Bloc nations utilize variants of the Russian kosmonavt, such as the Polish kosmonauta.
- Mikhail Tikhonravov, a Soviet aeronautics (or “cosmonautics”) pioneer, is credited with coining the phrase (1900–1974).
- Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet Air Force pilot who was also the first human in space, was the first cosmonaut. He was one of the first six Soviet nationals to be awarded the title of pilot-cosmonaut, together with German Titov, Yevgeny Khrunov, Andriyan Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich, and Grigoriy Nelyubov, in January 1961.
- Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman cosmonaut and the first and youngest woman to go into space in 1963 aboard the Vostok 6.
- Aboard March 14, 1995, Norman Thagard became the first American to travel to space on a Russian launch vehicle, becoming the first “American astronaut.”
TAIKONAUT
- The word Y háng yuán (“cosmos navigating persons”) is used in Chinese “) refers to astronauts and cosmonauts in general, whereas hángtin yuán (“navigating celestial heaven personnel”) refers to Chinese astronauts.
- Hángtin (literally “heaven navigating,” or spaceflight) is defined as the navigation of outer space inside the local star system, i.e., The Solar System.
- The expression tàikng rén (“spaceman”) “) is popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Some English-language news sources refer to professional Chinese space explorers as taikonauts.
- The term has appeared in the Longman and Oxford English dictionaries, and it gained popularity in 2003 when Yang Liwei, China’s first astronaut into space aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft.
- This word has been used in the English translation of the Chinese People’s Daily by Xinhua News Agency since the inception of the Chinese space program. The term’s origins are unknown; Chiew Lee Yih from Malaysia used it in newsgroups as early as May 1998.
PARASTRONAUT
- ESA plans to recruit an astronaut with a physical impairment for its 2022 Astronaut Group, a category they designate “parastronauts,” with the objective but not the assurance of flying.
- Individuals with lower limb deficit (amputation or congenital), leg length discrepancy, or small height were among the handicap categories evaluated for the program (less than 130 centimeters or 4 feet 3 inches).
SPACE TRAVEL MILESTONE
AGE MILESTONES
- Oliver Daemen, 18 and 11 months old when he conducted a suborbital voyage on Blue Origin NS-16, is the youngest person to enter space.
- Daemen, a business passenger on the New Shepard, beat the mark set by Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov, who flew Vostok 2 at 25.
- Titov is still the youngest person to circle the Earth, having completed 17 orbits. Titov was also the first to experience space sickness and the first to sleep in space twice.
- The oldest person to approach space is William Shatner, who was 90 years old when he made a suborbital voyage on Blue Origin NS-18.
- John Glenn, one of the Mercury 7, was 77 when he flew on STS-95, making him the oldest person to reach space.
DURATION AND DISTANCE MILESTONE
- Valeri Polyakov of Russia has spent the most time in space, 438 days.
- As of 2006, Jerry L. Ross and Franklin Chang-Diaz held the record for the most spaceflights by an individual astronaut, with seven.
- When Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert traveled around the Moon during the Apollo 13 emergency, they traveled 401,056 kilometers (249,205 miles) from Earth.
CIVILIAN AND NON-GOVERNMENT MILESTONE
- Valentina Tereshkova was the first civilian in space on Vostok 6. (she also became the first woman in space on that mission).
- Tereshkova was only given honorary membership in the Soviet Air Force, which did not allow female pilots at the time.
- Joseph Albert Walker became the first American citizen in space a month later when his X-15 Flight 90 passed the 100-kilometer (54-nautical-mile) barrier, qualifying him under the international definition of spaceflight.
- Walker had joined the United States Army Air Force but was not a member at the time of his flight. Konstantin Feoktistov and Boris Yegorov were the first persons in space who had never served in any country’s military forces.
- Byron K. Lichtenberg, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher on STS-9 in 1983, was the first non-government space passenger.
- The first yielding space traveler and the first journalist in space for Tokyo Broadcasting System in December 1990 was Toyohiro Akiyama, visiting Mir as part of an estimated $12 million (USD) deal with a Japanese T.V. station, though the term used to refer to Akiyama at the time was “Research Cosmonaut.” During his expedition, Akiyama experienced acute space sickness, hampered his productivity.
- Dennis Tito became the first self-funded space tourist on the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-3 on April 28, 2001.
TRAINING
- In 1959, the first NASA astronauts were chosen for training.
- Early in the space plan, military jet test flying and engineering skills were regularly listed as criteria for choosing an astronaut at NASA. However, neither John Glenn nor Scott Carpenter had any university degree, in engineering or any other discipline, at the time of their selection. Initially, only military pilots were considered.
- The first United States and Soviet Union astronauts were typically jet fighter pilots and test pilots. Once chosen, NASA astronauts undergo twenty months of training in several fields, including extravehicular activity training at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.
- Astronauts-in-training (astronaut candidates) may also experience brief periods of weightlessness (microgravity) in the “Vomit Comet,” a moniker given to a set of modified KC-135s (retired in 2000 and 2004, consecutively, and replaced in 2005 by a C-9).
- Astronauts must also amass certain flight hours in high performance. Due to its immediacy to Johnson Space Center, this is typically done in T-38 jet aircraft from Ellington Field.
- The Shuttle Training Aircraft is sustained and developed at Ellington Field, while most flights are from Edwards Air Force Base.
- Astronauts in training must learn to manage and fly the Space Shuttle and get aware of the International Space Station, so they understand what to do when they arrive.
HEALTH RISK OF SPACE TRAVEL
- Decompression sickness, barotrauma, immunodeficiency, bone and muscle loss, loss of vision, orthostatic intolerance, sleep disorders, and radiation harm are all concerns for astronauts.
- The execution of various large-scale medical experiments in space to address these issues was conducted by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI).
- For example, the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity Study involves astronauts (including former ISS commanders Leroy Chiao and Gennady Padalka) performing ultrasound scans in space under the supervision of remote experts to analyze and potentially treat hundreds of medical conditions.
- The procedures developed in this study are now being used to treat professional and Olympic sports injuries, and ultrasonography was done by non-expert operators on medical and high school students.
- Remote-guided ultrasound is expected to be used on Earth in emergency and pastoral care scenarios where access to a qualified physician is often limited.
FOOD AND DRINK
- Each day, each astronaut aboard the International Space Station requires around 830 g (29 oz) of food (including about 120 g or 4.2 oz packaging mass per meal).
- Astronauts on the Space Shuttle collaborated with nutritionists to create diets that suited their specific preferences.
- The shuttle dietitian prepared and tested food for nutritional composition five months before launch. Food is examined to see how it would behave in a low-gravity environment.
- A baseline energy expenditure (BEE) calculation calculates calorie needs. The average American consumes around 35 U.S. gallons (130 L) of water daily.
- On board the ISS, astronauts utilize just approximately three U.S. gallons (11 L) of water every day.
INSIGNIA
- Upon completion of their missions, cosmonauts in Russia are given Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation, frequently followed by the honor of Hero of the Russian Federation.
- It is consistent with the Soviet Union’s tradition of bestowing the title “Hero of the Soviet Union” on cosmonauts.
- Those who finish astronaut candidate training at NASA are awarded a silver lapel pin and a gold pin after flying in space. After participating in a spaceflight, U.S. astronauts on active duty get a unique qualification badge known as the Astronaut Badge.
- The United States Air Force also awards an Astronaut Badge to pilots who fly over 50 miles (80 kilometers).
DEATHS
- Eighteen astronauts (fourteen males and four women) had perished during four space trips as of 2020. Thirteen participants were Americans, four were Russian (Soviet Union), and one was Israeli.
- As of 2020, eleven individuals (eight Americans and three Russians) had died while training for spaceflight. Six occurred in training jet aircraft accidents, one drowned during sea recovery training, and four occurred due to fires in pure oxygen.
- During his 1971 Apollo 15 mission, astronaut David Scott placed a monument consisting of a statuette labeled Fallen Astronaut on the Moon’s surface, along with a list of the names of eight astronauts and six cosmonauts known at the time to have died in service.
Astronaut Worksheets
This bundle contains 11 ready-to-use Astronaut worksheets that are perfect for students who want to learn more about an astronaut, who is someone who has been trained, equipped, and deployed as a commander or crew member onboard a spacecraft by a human spaceflight program.
Download includes the following worksheets:
- Astronauts Facts
- Mapping Star Sailors
- Space Race
- Famous space explorers
- Mission Accomplished!
- All About NASA
- Lost in Space
- Space Shuttle Tour
- Space Animals
- The Moonwalk
- Mission Mars
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an astronaut?
An astronaut derives from the Ancient Greek astron, meaning “star,” and nautes, meaning “sailor,” is someone who has been trained, equipped, and deployed as a commander or crew member onboard a spacecraft by a human spaceflight program.
Who was the first astronaut?
On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first astronaut when he launched into space aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft. The ship completed one orbit around our planet, making him the first human to do so.
Is a cosmonaut the same as an astronaut?
In English, an astronaut hired by the Russian Federal Space Agency (or its Soviet predecessor) is a cosmonaut. The term is an Anglicization of the Greek kosmonavt.
Do astronauts have badges?
Those who finish astronaut candidate training at NASA are awarded a silver lapel pin and a gold pin after flying in space. After participating in a spaceflight, U.S. astronauts on active duty get a unique qualification badge known as the Astronaut Badge. The United States Air Force also awards an Astronaut Badge to pilots who fly over 50 miles (80 kilometers).
What are the health risks of space travel?
Decompression sickness, barotrauma, immunodeficiency, bone and muscle loss, loss of vision, orthostatic intolerance, sleep disorders, and radiation harm are all concerns for astronauts.
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