Leland D. Melvin
Leland Devon Melvin is an American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. He served on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis as a mission specialist on STS-122, and as mission specialist 1 on STS-129. Melvin was named the NASA Associate Administrator ...
Rex J. Walheim
Rex Joseph Walheim is a retired United States Air Force officer, engineer and NASA astronaut. He flew three space shuttle missions, STS-110, STS-122, and STS-135. Walheim logged over 566 hours in space, including 36 hours and 23 minutes of ...
Daniel M. Tani
Daniel M. Tani is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. Although born in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, he considers Lombard, Illinois, to be his hometown. With Peggy Whitson, Tani conducted the 100th spacewalk on the International Space Station.
Paul W. Richards
Paul William Richards is an American engineer and a former NASA Astronaut. He flew aboard one Space Shuttle mission in 2001.
John L. Phillips
John Lynch Phillips is a NASA astronaut. Phillips is also a Naval Aviator and retired captain, United States Navy Reserve. Phillips has received numerous awards and special honors. He is a National Merit Scholar, graduated 2nd in his class of 906 ...
Patrick G. Forrester
Patrick Graham Forrester is a retired United States Army officer and NASA astronaut. At the time of his retirement from the U.S. Army, Forrester had achieved the rank of colonel. He is married and has two children. Forrester has flown on three ...
Michael Fincke
Edward Michael "Mike"/"Spanky" Fincke is an American astronaut who formerly held the American record for the most time in space (381.6 days). His record was broken by Scott Kelly on October 16, 2015. He was born in Pittsburgh, ...
Fernando Caldeiro
Fernando "Frank" Caldeiro was an Argentine-born American scientist and NASA astronaut.
Yvonne Cagle
Yvonne Darlene Cagle is an American astronaut.
Daniel C. Burbank
Daniel Christopher Burbank is a retired American astronaut and a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions. Burbank, a Captain in the United States Coast Guard, is the second Coast Guard astronaut after Bruce Melnick. Burbank was born in ...
David M. Brown
David McDowell Brown was a United States Navy captain and a NASA astronaut. He died on his first spaceflight, when the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) disintegrated during orbital reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. Brown became an ...
William C. McCool
William Cameron "Willie" McCool was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut, who was the pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-107. He and the rest of the crew of STS-107 were ...
Christopher Loria
Christopher Joseph "Gus" Loria is a retired United States Marine Corps Colonel and a medically retired NASA astronaut. He was originally scheduled to fly on STS-113 as pilot; however, he was grounded from spaceflight due to a severe ...
Mike Massimino
Michael James Massimino is an American professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University and a former NASA astronaut. He is the senior advisor of space programs at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Early life Massimino was ...
James M. Kelly
James McNeal "Vegas" Kelly is a NASA Astronaut and a retired Colonel of the United States Air Force. He twice served as pilot on Space Shuttle missions.
Stephen Frick
Stephen Nathaniel Frick is an American astronaut and a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Frick graduated from Pine-Richland High School in 1982, earned a degree in aerospace engineering from the United ...
Duane G. Carey
Duane Gene "Digger" Carey is a retired lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force and a former NASA astronaut.
Ed Lu
Edward Tsang "Ed" Lu (simplified Chinese: 卢杰; traditional Chinese: 盧傑; pinyin: Lú Jié) is an American physicist and former NASA astronaut. He flew on two Space Shuttle flights, and made an extended stay aboard the International Space ...
Janet L. Kavandi
Janet Lynn Kavandi, a native of Carthage, Missouri is an American scientist and a NASA astronaut. She is a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and has served as NASA's Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office.
Michael P. Anderson
Michael Phillip Anderson was a United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut. Anderson and his six fellow crew members were killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the craft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth's ...
What is the difference between a cosmonaut and an astronaut?
Cosmonaut and astronaut are synonyms, that is, theoretically we can use them interchangeably, but traditionally we call people launched into space by the Americans astronauts and by the Russians cosmonauts, regardless of what nationalities they were. That is, Americans, Canadians, Japanese, Italians, French and Germans flying with Americans are astronauts. In contrast, General Hermaszewski, the only (so far) Pole in Space, is called a cosmonaut because he flew as part of the Soviet space program.
