Paolo Nespoli
Paolo Angelo Nespoli (Milan, 6 April 1957) is an Italian astronaut and engineer of the European Space Agency (ESA). In 2007, he first traveled into space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery as a mission specialist of STS-120. In December 2010 he ...
Douglas Wheelock
Bachelor of science in applied science from US Military Academy, 1983; master of science in aerospace engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, 1992; Colonel, USA; Space Operations Officer at Army Space Command in Houston; hobbies: ...
George Zamka
PERSONAL DATA: Born in 1962 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Raised in New York City; Irvington, New York; Medellin, Colombia; and Rochester Hills, Michigan. Married to the former Elisa P. Walker of Mississippi; they have two children. He enjoys ...
Sheikh Shukor
Personal data: Born on July 27, 1972, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Education: Sheikh Muszaphar obtained his high school education at Maktab Rendah Sains MARA in Muar. He then pursued his MBBS medical degree at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. ...
Benjamin Drew
PERSONAL DATA: Born November 5, 1962 in Washington, DC. His parents, Muriel and Benjamin Drew, Sr., reside in Fort Washington, Maryland. EDUCATION: 1980 High School Diploma from Gonzaga College High School in Washington, DC. 1984 Bachelor ...
Barbara Morgan
PERSONAL DATA: Born November 28, 1951, in Fresno, California. Married to Clay Morgan. They have two sons. Barbara plays flute and enjoys reading, hiking, swimming, skiing, and her family. EDUCATION: Hoover High School, Fresno, California, ...
Tracy Caldwell-Dyson
PERSONAL DATA: Born in Arcadia, California. Married to George Dyson IV. Caldwell Dyson enjoys sports, hiking, and auto repair/maintenance. She competed in intercollegiate track and field at California State University, Fullerton (CSU Fullerton), ...
Clayton Anderson
Clayton Conrad Anderson is a retired NASA astronaut. Launched on STS-117, he replaced Sunita Williams on June 10, 2007 as a member of the ISS Expedition 15 crew.
John Olivas
PERSONAL DATA: Born in North Hollywood, California, 1966, and raised in El Paso, Texas. Married to the former Marie Schwarzkopf, also from El Paso, Texas. They have 5 children. Recreational interests include running, weightlifting, hunting, ...
Steven Swanson
Steven Ray Swanson is an American Engineer and a retired NASA astronaut. He is married and has three children. He has received numerous awards and honors. These include the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal and the JSC Certificate of ...
Lee Archambault
PERSONAL DATA: Born August 25, 1960 in Oak Park, Illinois, but considers Bellwood, Illinois to be his hometown. Married to the former Kelly Renee Raup; they have three children. Recreational interests include bicycling, weightlifting, and ice ...
Charles Simonyi
Charles Simonyi (Hungarian: Simonyi Károly, pronounced [ˈʃimoɲi ˈkaːroj]; born September 10, 1948), son of Károly Simonyi, is a Hungarian-American computer software executive who, as head of Microsoft's application software group, oversaw the ...
Oleg Kotov
PERSONAL DATA: Born October 27, 1965, in Simferopol. Married to Svetlana Nikolayevna Kotova (previously, Bunyakina). They have two children, daughter Valeria, born in 1994, and son Dmitry, born in 2002. His parents, Valeri Efimovich and Elena ...
Sunita Williams
Sunita Pandya Lyn Williams is an American astronaut and United States Navy officer of Indo-Slovenian descent. She formerly held the records for total spacewalks by a woman (seven) and most spacewalk time for a woman (50 hours, 40 minutes). ...
Joan Higginbotham
PERSONAL DATA: Born in Chicago, Illinois. She enjoys body building (weightlifting), cycling, music, motivational speaking. EDUCATION: Graduated from Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, Chicago, Illinois, in 1982; received a Bachelor of ...
Arne Fuglesang
Personal data Born on 18 March 1957 in Stockholm, Sweden, Christer Fuglesang is married to the former Elisabeth Walldie; they have three children. Christer enjoys sports, sailing, skiing, reading and playing Frisbee and games. Education ...
Nicholas Patrick
PERSONAL DATA: Dr. Patrick was born in 1964 in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom. He also considers London, England, and Rye, New York, to be his hometowns. He became a U.S. citizen in 1994. His mother, Gillian Patrick, ...
William Oefelein
PERSONAL DATA: Born March 29, 1965 in Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, but considers Anchorage, Alaska to be his hometown. He has two children. Recreational interests include weight lifting, wake and snow boarding, fishing, and backcountry hiking. His ...
Anousheh Ansari
Anousheh Ansari (born September 12, 1966) is an Iranian-American engineer. On September 18, 2006, a few days after her 40th birthday, she became the first Iranian in space. Ansari was the fourth overall self-funded space tourist, and the first ...
Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper
She has achieved the rank of Captain in the United States Navy. She is also a qualified and experienced salvage officer. Her major salvage projects include de-stranding the Exxon Houston off the coast of Barbers Point, on the island of Oahu, ...
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.
