Information AboutAstronauts |
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using a Manned Maneuvering Unit outside the U.S. Space Shuttle '' Challenger '' in 1984.]]
An astronaut or '''cosmonaut''' ( to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a Spacecraft .1 While generally reserved for professional space travelers, the term is sometimes applied to anyone who travels into space, including scientists, politicians, journalists, and tourists. Until 2003 , astronauts were sponsored and trained exclusively by governments, either by the military or by civilian space agencies. However, with the first sub-orbital flight of the privately-funded SpaceShipOne in 2004 , a new category of astronaut was created—the Commercial Astronaut . With the rise of Space Tourism , NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency agreed to use the term " Spaceflight Participant " to distinguish those space travelers from astronauts on missions coordinated by those two agencies. The criteria for what constitutes human Spaceflight vary. The FAI defines spaceflight as any flight over 100 kilometres (62 miles). However, in the United States , professional, military, and commercial astronauts who travel above an altitude of 80 kilometres (50 miles) are awarded Astronaut Wings . As of June 13 , 2007 , a total of 460 humans from 39 Countries have gone into space according to the FAI guideline, while 466 people qualify under the U.S. definition. Of those totals, 456 people have reached Earth Orbit or beyond and 24 People have traveled beyond Low Earth Orbit . Space travelers have spent over 30,000 person-days (or a cumulative total of over 82 years) in space, including over 100 person-days of Spacewalks .Manned astronautics: facts and figures, http://space.kursknet.ru/cosmos/english/other/stat_kk.sht, Alexander Anikeev, September 11, 2006, accessed September 15, 2006 TERMINOLOGY whose citizens have flown in space As Of 2006 ]] In the United States and many other English -speaking nations, a professional space traveler is called an ''astronaut''.''From Astronautics to Cosmonautics'', Gruntman. BookSurge, North Charleston, S.C. (2007) The term derives from the Greek words ''ástron'' (star) and ''nautes'' (sailor). The first known use of the term "astronaut" in the modern sense was by Neil R. Jones in his short story ''The Death's Head Meteor'' in 1930. The word itself had been known earlier. For example, in Percy Greg 's 1880 book ''Across the Zodiac'', "astronaut" referred to a spacecraft. In ''Les Navigateurs de l'Infini'' (1925) of J.-H. Rosny Aîné the word ''astronautique'' (astronautic) was used. The word may have been inspired by "aeronaut", an older term for an air traveler first applied (in 1784) to Balloon ists. NASA applies the term astronaut to any crew member aboard NASA spacecraft bound for Earth orbit or beyond. NASA also uses the term as a title for those selected to join its Astronaut Corps. |
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