Henry 'Hank' Hartsfield
Henry Warren "Hank" Hartsfield Jr. was a United States Air Force officer and a USAF and NASA astronaut who logged over 480 hours in space. Hartsfield became a NASA astronaut in September 1969. Hartsfield was the pilot on STS-4, the ...
Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa
Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa, born 5 December 1947) was the first Mongolian in space. He was selected as part of the eighth Intercosmos program on 1 March 1978, at time he was in the rank of Major General. His backup was Maidarjavyn Ganzorig. ...
Frederick "Rick" Hauck
Frederick Hamilton "Rick" Hauck is a retired Captain in the United States Navy, a former fighter pilot and NASA astronaut. He piloted Space Shuttle mission STS-7 and commanded STS-51-A and STS-26.
Chen Quan
Chen Quan (simplified Chinese: 陈全; traditional Chinese: 陳全; pinyin: Chén Quán) is a Chinese pilot selected as part of the Shenzhou program. Chen was selected to be an astronaut in 1998 and served as commander of the backup crew for Shenzhou 7 ...
Thomas P. Stafford
Thomas Patten Stafford was an American Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut.
Charles "Scorch" Hobaugh
Charles Owen "Scorch" Hobaugh is a former NASA astronaut and a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer. He has had three spaceflights, all of which were Space Shuttle missions to the International Space Station, lasting between 10 and 13 days.
Chen Dong
Chen Dong (simplified Chinese: 陈冬; traditional Chinese: 陳冬; pinyin: Chén Dōng; born 12 December 1978) is a Chinese pilot and astronaut selected as part of the Shenzhou program. He was selected to fly on the Shenzhou 11 mission in October 2016 ...
Carl J. Meade
Carl Joseph Meade is a former NASA astronaut.
Kathryn "Kay" Hire
Kathryn Patricia "Kay" Hire is a NASA astronaut and Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve who has flown aboard two Space Shuttle missions. Hire began work at the Kennedy Space Center in May 1989,first as an Orbiter Processing Facility 3 ...
James Halsell
James Halsell was an Air Force Test Pilot when he was selected by NASA to become an Astronaut in 1990. He was a veteran of five flights totalling over 1,250 hours in space, pilot of two STS missions and commander of three. He also served as a ...
Georgy Dobrovolsky
Georgiy Timofeyevich Dobrovolsky (Russian: Гео́ргий Тимофе́евич Доброво́льский; June 1, 1928 – June 30, 1971) was a Soviet cosmonaut who served on the three-man crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft. They became the world's first space station ...
Donald Holmquest
Donald Lee Holmquest (born April 7, 1939) is an American lawyer, as well as a physician, electrical engineer and former NASA astronaut. Holmquest was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967. From May 1971 to September 1973, he ...
Anne McClain
Anne Charlotte McClain is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army currently assigned to NASA Astronaut Group 21.
Gus Grissom
Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom was one of the seven original National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Project Mercury astronauts, and the first of the Mercury Seven to die. He was also a Project Gemini and an ...
Christer Fuglesang
Arne Christer Fuglesang (born March 18, 1957 in Stockholm) is a Swedish physicist and an ESA astronaut. He was first launched aboard the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission on December 10, 2006, at 01:47 GMT, making him the first Swedish citizen in ...
Georgy Grechko
Georgy Mikhaylovich Grechko (Russian: Георгий Михайлович Гречко; 25 May 1931 – 8 April 2017) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on several space flights including Soyuz 17, Soyuz 26, and Soyuz T-14.
Norman E. Thagard
Norman Earl Thagard (born July 3, 1943), (Capt, USMC, Ret.), is an American scientist and former U.S. Marine Corps officer and naval aviator and NASA astronaut. He is the first American to ride to space on board a Russian vehicle, and can be ...
Neil Woodward
Neil W. Woodward III is an American Naval officer and a former NASA astronaut.
Douglas H. Wheelock
Douglas Harry "Wheels" Wheelock is an American engineer and astronaut. He has flown in space twice, logging 178 days on the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, and Russian Soyuz. On July 12, 2011, Wheelock announced that he ...
Kathryn P. Hire
Kathryn Patricia "Kay" Hire is a NASA astronaut and Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve who has flown aboard two Space Shuttle missions.
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.
