Takuya Onishi
Takuya Onishi (大西 卓哉 Ōnishi Takuya, born 1975) is a Japanese astronaut selected for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2009.[1] He spent four months onboard the International Space Station in 2016.
Grigori Nelyubov
Grigori Grigoryevich Nelyubov (Russian: Григо́рий Григо́рьевич Нелю́бов; March 31, 1934 – February 18, 1966) was one of the original 20 Soviet cosmonauts, who was dismissed from the Soviet space program in 1963 for drunk and disorderly conduct. ...
James F. Reilly
James Francis Reilly II is an American geologist and a former NASA astronaut. He flew on three space shuttle missions: STS-89, STS-104 and STS-117.
Abdul Ahad Mohmand
Abdul Ahad Mohmand (Pashto: عبدالاحد مومند; born January 1, 1959) is a former Afghan Air Force aviator who became the first Afghan citizen and fourth Muslim to journey to outer space. He became one of Soyuz TM-6 crew members and spent nine days ...
Alexander Misurkin
Alexander Alexanderovich Misurkin (Russian: Aлександр Aлександрович Мисуркин) born on September 23, 1977, a major in the Russian Air Force, is a Russian cosmonaut, selected in 2006. He flew aboard Soyuz TMA-08M on 28 March 2013 as his first space ...
Yury Malyshev
Yury Vasilyevich Malyshev (Russian: Ю́рий Васи́льевич Ма́лышев) was born in the village Nikolayevsk, Stalingrad Oblast (Volgograd Oblast), USSR, on 27 August 1941. He was Commander of Soyuz T-2 (5–9 June 1980) and Soyuz T-11 (3–11 April 1984).
Ravish Malhotra
Ravish Malhotra (born 25 December 1943 born in Lahore, British India is a retired Air Commodore of the Indian Air Force. In 1982, he was chosen to train for spaceflight in the Soviet Union's Intercosmos program. Malhotra served as backup ...
Steve MacLean
Steven Glenwood MacLean FRCGS (born December 14, 1954) is a Canadian astronaut. MacLean served as a Mission Specialist on STS-115, which launched on September 9, 2006, and returned on September 21, 2006. He became the first Canadian to operate ...
Yury Lonchakov
Yury Valentinovich Lonchakov (Russian: Юрий Валентинович Лончаков; born 4 March 1965) is a Russian former cosmonaut and a veteran of three space missions. He has spent 200 days in space and has conducted two career spacewalks.
Vasily Lazarev
Vasily Grigoryevich Lazarev (Russian: Васи́лий Григо́рьевич Ла́зарев; February 23, 1928 – December 31, 1990) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 12 spaceflight as well as the abortive Soyuz 18a launch in April 5, 1975.
Sergei Krikalev
Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev (Russian: Серге́й Константинович Крикалёв, also transliterated as Sergei Krikalyov; born August 27, 1958) is a Russian cosmonaut and mechanical engineer. As a prominent rocket scientist, he is a veteran of six ...
Yevgeny Khrunov
Yevgeni Vassilyevich Khrunov (Russian: Евге́ний Васи́льевич Хруно́в; September 10, 1933 – May 20, 2000) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 5/Soyuz 4 mission.
Carlos I. Noriega
Carlos Ismael Noriega is a Peruvian and U.S. citizen, NASA employee, a former NASA astronaut and a retired U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel.
Albert Sacco
Albert Sacco Jr. (born May 3, 1949) is an American chemical engineer who flew as a Payload Specialist on the Space Shuttle Columbia on shuttle mission STS-73 in 1995.
Pyotr Kolodin
Pyotr Ivanovich Kolodin (Russian: Пётр Иванович Колодин; (born September 23, 1930) is a former Soviet cosmonaut. Although he retired in 1983 without flying in space, Kolodin served non-flying assignments on several spaceflights.
Aleksandr Kaleri
Aleksandr Yuriyevich "Sasha" Kaleri (Russian: Александр Юрьевич Калери; born Jūrmala, Latvian SSR, USSR, 13 May 1956) is a Russian cosmonaut and veteran of extended stays on the Mir Space Station and the International Space Station ...
Frank De Winne
Frank, Viscount De Winne (born 25 April 1961, in Ledeberg, Belgium) is a Belgian Air Component officer and an ESA astronaut. He is Belgium's second person in space (after Dirk Frimout). He was the first ESA astronaut to command a space ...
Aleksandr Nikolayevich Balandin
Aleksandr Nikolayevich Balandin (Russian: Александр Николаевич Баландин) (born July 30, 1953) is a Russian cosmonaut. He is married with two children. He was selected as a cosmonaut on December 1, 1978, and retired on October 17, 1994. He flew ...
Toktar Aubakirov
Toktar Ongarbayuly Aubakirov (Kazakh: Тоқтар Оңғарбайұлы Әубәкіров, Russian: Токтар Онгарбаевич Аубакиров, born on 27 July 1946) is a retired Kazakh Air Force officer and a former cosmonaut. In 1991, in accordance with an agreement between the ...
Curt Michel
Frank Curtis "Curt" Michel, Ph.D. was an American astrophysicist; a professor of astrophysics at Rice University in Houston, Texas; a former United States Air Force pilot; and a NASA astronaut.
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.
