George Nield
Dr. George Nield is the president of Commercial Space Technologies, LLC, which he founded to encourage, facilitate, and promote commercial space activities. He previously served as associate administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration ...
Scott Poteet
Scott “Kidd” Poteet is a retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who served 20 years in various roles that include Commander of the 64th Aggressor Squadron, USAF Thunderbird #4 Demonstration Pilot, USAF Weapons School Graduate, ...
Sarah Gillis
Sarah Gillis is a Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX, responsible for overseeing the company’s astronaut training program. This includes the development of mission-specific curriculum and training execution for both NASA and commercial ...
Anna Menon
Anna Menon is a Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX, where she manages the development of crew operations and serves in mission control as both a Mission Director and crew communicator. During her tenure at SpaceX, she has led the ...
Jessica Wittner
Jessica Wittner is a US Navy commander from California with a distinguished career serving on active duty as a naval aviator and test pilot. She holds a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from the University of Arizona, and a Master of ...
Christopher Williams
Christopher Williams grw up in Potomac, Maryland and graduated from Stanford University in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in physics and a doctorate in physics from MIT in 2012, where his research was in astrophysics. Williams is a board-certified ...
Anil Menon
Anil Menon is a US Air Force lieutenant colonel from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was SpaceX’s first flight surgeon, helping to launch the company’s first humans to space during NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission and building a medical organization to ...
Jack Hathaway
Jack Hathaway is a US Navy commander from Connecticut. He earned bachelors’ degrees in physics and history from the U.S. Naval Academy and completed graduate studies at Cranfield University in England and the U.S. Naval War College. A ...
Luke Delaney
Luke Delaney is a retired US Marine Corps major who grew up in Debary, Florida. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from University of North Florida and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. He is ...
Nichole Ayers
Nichole Ayers is a US Air Force major who graduated from the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a minor in Russian. She later earned a master’s degree in computational and applied ...
Andre Douglas
Andre Douglas is a Virginia native. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in naval architecture ...
Deniz Burnham
Deniz Burnham is a US Nacy lieutenant from Wasilla, Alaska. A former intern at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, Burnham serves in the U.S. Navy Reserves. She earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the ...
Marcos Berríos
Marcos Berríos is a US Air Force major who grew up in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. While a reservist in the Air National Guard, Berríos worked as an aerospace engineer for the US Army Aviation Development Directorate at Moffett Federal Airfield in ...
Christina Birch
Christina Birch grew up in Gilbert, Arizona, and graduated from the University of Arizona with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biophysics. After earning a doctorate in biological ...
Lane Bess
Lane is the Principal and Founder of Bess Ventures and Advisory, a family fund supporting technology firms that innovate and disrupt across multiple market sectors. Lane is best known for having helped start and build two of the most important ...
Cameron Bess
Cameron is a content creator who studied Computer Science and Game Design at DigiPen Institute for Technology in Washington.
Michael Strahan
Michael Strahan is a two-time Emmy award winner, Peabody award-winning journalist, and Super Bowl Champion, who currently serves as a co-anchor on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and host of the top-rated primetime game show “$100,000 Pyramid.” ...
Evan Dick
Evan Dick is an engineer, investor, and Managing Member of Dick Holdings, LLC. Evan formerly served as Senior Vice President for D.E. Shaw and Managing Director of Highbridge Capital Management, and is a charitable supporter of the Darwin ...
Dylan Taylor
Dylan Taylor is chairman & CEO of Voyager Space, a global space exploration firm headquartered in Denver, and the founder of the global nonprofit Space for Humanity, which seeks to democratize access to space. He is also co-Founding Patron of ...
Laura Shepard Churchley
Daughter of Alan Shepard, first American in space and fifth human to walk on the Moon. She serves as Chair of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Board of Trustees, a foundation that raises funds for college students and provides mentoring to ...
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.
