Marsha Ivins
Marsha Sue Ivins is an American former astronaut and a veteran of five space shuttle missions.
William Shepherd
William McMichael "Bill" Shepherd is an American former Navy SEAL, aerospace, ocean, and mechanical engineer, and NASA astronaut who served as Commander of Expedition 1, the first crew on the International Space Station. He is also a ...
Guy Gardner
Guy Spence Gardner is a United States Air Force officer and a former astronaut. He holds the rank of Colonel. He flew as pilot on two Space Shuttle missions, STS-27 and STS-35. Gardner was also the 12th president of the Williamson Free School of ...
Abdul Mohmand
Former Afghan Air Force aviator who became the first Afghan and 4th Muslim to journey to outer space. He became one of Soyuz TM-6 crew members and spent nine days aboard the Mir space station in 1988 as an Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut. He ...
Valeri Polyakov
Valeri Vladimirovich Polyakov (Russian: Валерий Владимирович Поляков, born Valeri Ivanovich Korshunov on April 27, 1942) is a former Russian cosmonaut. He is the holder of the record for the longest single stay in space in human history, staying ...
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.
