Christopher Ferguson
PERSONAL DATA: Born September 1, 1961, in Philadelphia, PA. Married to the former Sandra A. Cabot. They have three children. Enjoys golf, woodworking and playing the drums. EDUCATION: Archbishop Ryan High School, Philadelphia, PA, 1979; Drexel ...
Stephanie Wilson
PERSONAL DATA: Born in 1966 in Boston, Massachusetts. Enjoys snow skiing, music, stamp collecting and traveling. EDUCATION: Graduated from Taconic High School, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 1984. Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science from ...
Lisa Nowak
PERSONAL DATA: Born May 10, 1963, in Washington, D.C. Married, with three children. Lisa enjoys bicycling, running, skeet, sailing, gourmet cooking, rubber stamps, crossword puzzles, piano, and African violets. As an undergraduate she competed on ...
Michael Fossum
PERSONAL DATA: Born December 19, 1957, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and grew up in McAllen, Texas. Married to the former Melanie J. London. They have four children and one grandchild. He enjoys family activities, motorcycle riding and ...
Marcos Pontes
Foi o primeiro astronauta brasileiro, o primeiro sul-americano e o primeiro lusófono a ir ao espaço, na missão batizada "Missão Centenário", em referência à comemoração dos cem anos do voo de Santos Dumont no avião 14 Bis, realizado em 1906. ...
Nie Haisheng
Nie Haisheng is a Chinese military pilot and CNSA astronaut. In 1998, he was selected for the Chinese spaceflight program and was one of three candidates who were part of the final group to train for the Shenzhou 5 flight, China's first ...
Fei Junlong
Major general Fei Junlong (simplified Chinese: 费俊龙; traditional Chinese: 費俊龍; pinyin: Fèi Jùnlóng; born 1965) is a Chinese military pilot and an astronaut. He flew on the second manned spaceflight of the Shenzhou program. Fèi was selected for ...
Gregory Olsen
Bachelor of Science in physics from the Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey, 1966; bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering and electronics from the Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey, 1968; Master of Science in physics ...
Soichi Noguchi
Soichi Noguchi (野口 聡一 Noguchi Sōichi, born 15 April 1965 in Yokohama, Japan) is a Japanese aeronautical engineer and former JAXA astronaut. His first spaceflight was as a Mission Specialist aboard STS-114 on 26 July 2005 for NASA's first ...
Charles Camarda
PERSONAL DATA: Born in 1952 in Queens, New York. Charlie enjoys racquetball, runningand weightlifting. His father, Jack Camarda, resides in Queens, New York. EDUCATION: Graduated from Archbishop Molloy High School, Jamaica, New York, in ...
Yuri Shargin
PERSONAL DATA: Was born on March 20, 1960. EDUCATION: In 1977 he entered the A. F. Mozhaysky Military Engineer Institute in Leningrad, graduating in 1982 with a certificate of mechanic engineer with aircrafts specialty. From 1991 to 1995 he ...
William Binnie
Brian Binnie is a Program Business Manager and Test Pilot at Scaled Composites. He has 21 years flight test experience including 20 years of Naval Service in the Strike-Fighter community. He has logged over 4600 hours of flight time in 59 ...
Michael Melvill
South African-American test pilot rocketplane pilot. Flew on SpaceShipOne Flight 15P, SpaceShipOne Flight 16P. Mike Melvill is Vice President/General Manager and a Test Pilot at Scaled Composites, LLC in Mojave, California. Melvill spent his ...
Andre Kuipers
Personal data Born on 5 October 1958 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, André Kuipers is married with three daughters and a son. Enjoys flying, scuba diving, skiing, hiking, travelling and history. Education In 1977 André graduated from the ...
Edward Fincke
Bachelor of science in aeronautics and astronautics; bachelor of science in earth, atmospheric and planetary science from MIT, 1989; master of science in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University, 1990; master of science degree in ...
Yang Liwei
Yang Liwei is a major general, military pilot, and China National Space Administration astronaut. In October 2003, he became the first person sent into space by the Chinese space program. This mission, Shenzhou 5, made China the third country to ...
Ilan Ramon
PERSONAL DATA: Born June 20,1954 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Died on February 1, 2003 over the southern United States when Space Shuttle Columbia and the crew perished during entry, 16 minutes prior to scheduled landing. He is survived by his wife Rona ...
Laurel Clark
PERSONAL DATA: Born in Iowa, but considered Racine, Wisconsin, to be her hometown. Died on February 1, 2003 over the southern United States when Space Shuttle Columbia and the crew perished during entry, 16 minutes prior to scheduled landing. She ...
David Brown
PERSONAL DATA: Born April 16, 1956 in Arlington, Virginia. Single. Died on February 1, 2003 over the southern United States when Space Shuttle Columbia and the crew perished during entry, 16 minutes prior to scheduled landing. He is survived by ...
William McCool
PERSONAL DATA: Born September 23, 1961 in San Diego, California. Died on February 1, 2003 over the southern United States when Space Shuttle Columbia and the crew perished during entry, 16 minutes prior to scheduled landing. He is survived by his ...
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.
