Aidyn Aimbetov
Aimbetov was selected to the first Kazakh cosmonaut class in 2002, along with Mukhtar Aimakhanov, out of a pool of 2,000 candidates. From 2003 to 2009, he trained in Russia as a cosmonaut at Star City. He returned to Astana, in Kazakhstan, after ...
Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandrov
Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandrov (Russian: Александр Павлович Александров; born February 20, 1943) is a former Soviet cosmonaut and twice Hero of the Soviet Union (November 23, 1983, and December 29, 1987). He was selected as cosmonaut on ...
Anatoly Artsebarsky
Anatoly Pavlovich Artsebarsky (Ukrainian: Анатолій Павлович Арцебарський) (Russian: Анатолий Павлович Арцебарский; born 9 September 1956) is a former Soviet cosmonaut. He became a cosmonaut in 1985. Artsebarsky has spent almost 5 months in ...
Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov
Aleksandrov was born in Omurtag, Bulgaria on December 1, 1951. He graduated from the Bulgarian Air Force Academy in 1974 and obtained a degree in technical sciences in 1983. In the Bulgarian Air Force, Aleksandrov rose to the rank of lieutenant ...
Joseph P. Kerwin
Joseph Peter Kerwin, M.D. is an American physician and former NASA astronaut, who served as Science Pilot for the Skylab 2 mission from May 25–June 22, 1973. He was the first physician to be selected for astronaut training.
Donn F. Eisele
Donn Fulton Eisele was a United States Air Force officer, test pilot, and later a NASA astronaut. He occupied the Command Module Pilot seat during the flight of Apollo 7 in 1968. After retiring from both NASA and the Air Force, he became the ...
Elliot See
Elliot McKay See Jr. was an American engineer, naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. He was selected for NASA's second group of astronauts in 1962. See was chosen as the prime command pilot for what would have been his first space ...
Charles Bassett
Charles Arthur "Charlie" Bassett II, Major, USAF was an American electrical engineer and United States Air Force test pilot. He was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1963 and assigned to Gemini 9, but died in an airplane crash during ...
Theodore Freeman
Theodore Cordy "Ted" Freeman was an American aeronautical engineer, U.S. Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. Selected in the third group of NASA astronauts in 1963, he was killed a year later in the crash of a T-38 jet, ...
Rusty Schweickart
Russell Louis "Rusty" Schweickart is an American aeronautical engineer, and a former NASA astronaut, research scientist, U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, as well as a former business executive and government executive. Selected in 1963 ...
Walter Cunningham
Ronnie Walter Cunningham was an American astronaut. In 1968, he was a Lunar Module Pilot on the Apollo 7 mission. He was NASA's third civilian astronaut (after Neil Armstrong and Elliot See), and has also been a fighter pilot, physicist, ...
Pete Conrad
Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. was an American NASA astronaut, aeronautical engineer, naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and during the Apollo 12 mission became the third man to walk on the Moon. Conrad was selected in NASA's second ...
Jim Lovell
James Arthur Lovell Jr. is a former NASA astronaut, Naval Aviator, and retired Navy captain. Lovell is known for being the commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, which suffered a critical failure en route to the Moon but was brought back ...
Frank Borman
Frank Frederick Borman II was a United States Air Force pilot, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, best remembered as the Commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon, making him, along with crew mates Jim ...
Deke Slayton
Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton, was an American World War II pilot, aeronautical engineer, and test pilot who was selected as one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts, and became NASA's first Chief of the Astronaut Office.
Mike Mullane
Richard Michael "Mike" Mullane is an engineer and aircraft pilot, a retired USAF officer. and a former NASA astronaut. During his career, he flew as a mission specialist on STS-41-D, STS-27, and STS-36.
Tim Peake
Major Timothy Nigel Peake CMG is a British Army Air Corps officer, former European Space Agency astronaut and International Space Station (ISS) crew member. He is the first British ESA astronaut, the second astronaut to bear a flag of the United ...
Douglas G. Hurley
Douglas Gerald Hurley is an engineer and retired NASA astronaut. He piloted Space Shuttle mission STS-127, which launched July 15, 2009. He was assigned and flew as pilot for STS-135, the final flight of the Space Shuttle program, in July 2011. ...
Andrew J. Feustel
Andrew Jay "Drew" Feustel is a geophysicist and a NASA astronaut. Following several years working as a geophysicist, Feustel was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in July 2000. His first spaceflight in May 2009, STS-125, lasted ...
Richard R. Arnold
Richard Robert "Ricky" Arnold II is an American educator and a NASA astronaut. He flew on Space Shuttle mission STS-119, which launched March 15, 2009 and delivered the final set of solar arrays to the International Space Station. He ...
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.
