Astronaut

astronaut, designation, derived from the Greek words for “star” and “sailor,” commonly applied to an individual who has flown in outer space. More specifically, in the West, astronaut refers to those from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan who travel into space.

 Those Soviet and later Russian individuals who travel into space are known as cosmonauts (from the Greek words for “universe” and “sailor”). In Russia the word cosmonaut is used for space travelers of all nations. In the West, Chinese space travelers have come to be referred to as taikonauts (from the Chinese word for “space” and the Greek word for “sailor”), but in China the word yuhangyuan (from the Chinese words for “space” and “traveler”) is used.

The first seven U.S. astronauts were chosen for Project Mercury in April 1959. They were selected from some 500 candidates, all members of the U.S. military.

Each candidate was required to have experience as a pilot of high-performance jet aircraft and, because of the cramped conditions inside the Mercury spacecraft, to be no more than 5 feet 11 inches (180 cm) tall and weigh no more than 180 pounds (82 kg).

These astronauts were U.S. Air Force Captains L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., Virgil (“Gus”) Grissom, and Donald (“Deke”) Slayton; Marine Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn, Jr.; and Navy Lieutenant M. Scott Carpenter and Lieutenant Commanders Walter M. Schirra, Jr., and Alan B. Shepard, Jr. On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard made a brief suborbital flight, becoming the first U.S. astronaut to go into space. John Glenn became the first American in orbit with his February 20, 1962, three-orbit flight.

Gagarin, a Russian, was the first man to enter space. He orbited the Earth on April 12, 1961. His achievement was highly symbolic at the height of the Cold War, and Gagarin became an international celebrity as a result. Despite his extraordinary achievements, it may have been his short stature (5′ 2″) that won him a spot in the tiny cockpit of the first manned spaceship.

Neil Armstrong may be the most famous astronaut of all. You may know him as the first man to step foot on the moon, and the speaker of many famous phrases like “The Eagle has landed” and “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.

Buzz Aldrin piloted the lunar module for the Apollo 11 mission and followed Neil Armstrong from the lander to the surface of the moon. He was the second man to set foot on the moon. After the deaths of the original Gemini 9 space mission crew, Aldrin was promoted to back-up crew for the mission. Aldrin also demonstrated that astronauts could work outside spacecraft with some nifty technical improvisation.

Sally became the first American woman in space when she flew aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1983. She flew to space again in 1984 and was later a member of the boards of inquiry into the loss of both the Challenger and the Columbia shuttles. Sadly, she died in July 2012 of pancreatic cancer.

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