In 1960 nobody had ever traveled past Earth. Now greater than 700 folks have flown previous the 50-mile-high mark that was thought of the boundary of house when spaceflight first received began. At the moment, the Soviet Union and the U.S. have been the one groups, and army males round 30 years outdated have been virtually the one gamers. Since then, astronauts have diversified in some ways: women and men from 47 nations have reached house, together with residents of each continent, most within the make use of of house businesses and a few with non-public firms. Variety hasn’t been an easy march, although: in 1963 the usS.R. launched the primary girl into house, however in subsequent years solely 5 extra feminine cosmonauts flew in complete, whereas dozens of male cosmonauts went up every decade.
The variety of house guests peaked within the Nineties, when NASA flew a median of six house shuttle missions a 12 months, every often carrying 5 to seven astronauts. The primary shuttle launched in 1981, however this system took a virtually three-year hiatus after the Challenger catastrophe in 1986. The shuttle fleet was grounded once more for greater than two years when Columbia broke up on its return journey to Earth.
Annual Age Distributions of Astronauts despatched to Area
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The ages of astronauts are proven right here for every year when folks flew to house. The width of every blob represents the variety of fliers for every age. Each the typical age of astronauts and the unfold in ages have step by step risen over time.
Astronauts despatched to Area by Operator over time
For a few years NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian house company, have been the one spacefaring entities on the earth. The Chinese language Nationwide Area Administration launched its first astronaut in 2003. After NASA’s house shuttles retired in 2011, NASA purchased transportation for its astronauts on Russian after which non-public American spacecraft.
Astronauts by Area of Citizenship and gender, by decade
The black jagged line separates many years of house journey. Inside every zone, the variety of house vacationers is proven for every geographic area, damaged down by gender (male in stable colours, feminine in stripes).
Mission Information for Particular person Astronauts
Every tile represents a person house flier. Colour and tile symbols signify every particular person’s area of citizenship, gender, variety of missions, length in house, kind of flight, and public or non-public standing. White strains mark issues encountered and astronauts who died on house missions, and white circles point out astronauts who have been in house at press time (December 2024).
