Editing Astronaut (section)

===Cosmonaut===
[[File:RIAN archive 888102 Soviet cosmonauts.jpg|thumb|The first eleven Soviet cosmonauts to fly, July 1965. Back row, left to right: [[Alexei Leonov|Leonov]], [[Gherman Titov|Titov]], [[Valery Bykovsky|Bykovsky]], [[Boris Yegorov|Yegorov]], [[Pavel Popovich|Popovich]]; front row: [[Vladimir Komarov|Komarov]], [[Yuri Gagarin|Gagarin]], [[Valentina Tereshkova|Tereshkova]], [[Andriyan Nikolayev|Nikolayev]], [[Konstantin Feoktistov|Feoktistov]], [[Pavel Belyayev|Belyayev]].]]
{{Main|Soviet space program}}
{{Main list|List of cosmonauts}}

By convention, an astronaut employed by the [[Russian Federal Space Agency]] (or its predecessor, the [[Soviet space program]]) is called a ''cosmonaut'' in English texts.<ref name="biopage" /> The word is an [[Anglicization]] of ''kosmonavt'' ({{langx|ru|link=no|космонавт}} {{IPA|ru|kəsmɐˈnaft}}).<ref name = "space traveller">{{cite book |last1 = Kotlyakov |first1 = Vladimir |last2 = Komarova |first2 = Anna |title = Elsevier's Dictionary of Geography: in English, Russian, French, Spanish and German |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6DhWw_cYLicC | year = 2006| publisher = Elsevier |isbn = 978-0-08-048878-3 | page = 49}}</ref> Other countries of the former [[Eastern Bloc]] use variations of the Russian kosmonavt, such as the {{langx|pl|kosmonauta}} (although [[Polish people|Poles]] also used {{lang|pl|astronauta}}, and the two words are considered synonyms).<ref>{{cite web |title = Astronauta a kosmonauta |publisher = [[Polish Scientific Publishers PWN|PWN]] |author = Katarzyna Kłosińska, University of Warsaw |date = 16 December 2016 |url = https://sjp.pwn.pl/poradnia/haslo/Astronauta-a-kosmonauta;17329.html |access-date = 6 April 2019 |archive-date = 27 August 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230827223036/https://sjp.pwn.pl/poradnia/haslo/Astronauta-a-kosmonauta;17329.html |url-status = live }}</ref>

Coinage of the term {{lang|ru|космонавт}} has been credited to Soviet aeronautics (or "[[cosmonautics]]") pioneer [[Mikhail Tikhonravov]] (1900–1974).<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last=Brzezinski |first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Brzezinski |year=2007 |title=Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries That Ignited the Space Age |location=New York |publisher=Henry Holt & Co. |page=108 |isbn=978-0-8050-8147-3 }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite book |first = Mike |last = Gruntman |author-link = Mike Gruntman |year=2004 |title = Blazing the Trail: The Early History of Spacecraft and Rocketry |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2XY9KXxF8OEC&pg=PA326 |location=Reston, VA |publisher=[[AIAA]] |page=326 |isbn=9781563477058 }}</ref> The first cosmonaut was [[Soviet Air Force]] pilot [[Yuri Gagarin]], also the first person in space. He was part of the first six Soviet citizens, with [[German Titov]], [[Yevgeny Khrunov]], [[Andriyan Nikolayev]], [[Pavel Popovich]], and [[Grigoriy Nelyubov]], who were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961.<ref>{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zk_MkKERUokC&pg=332 |title=Russia's Cosmonauts: Inside the Yuri Gagarin Training Center |last1=Hall|first1=Rex D.|last2=David|first2=Shayler|last3=Vis|first3=Bert|date=5 October 2007 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=9780387739755}}</ref> [[Valentina Tereshkova]] was the first female cosmonaut and the first and youngest [[Women in space|woman to have flown in space]] with a solo mission on the [[Vostok 6]] in 1963.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/11871598/Russia-forgot-to-send-toothbrush-with-first-woman-in-space.html |title=Russia forgot to send toothbrush with first woman in space |last=Knapton |first=Sarah |newspaper=Daily Telegraph |date=17 September 2015 |access-date=16 June 2019 |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=24 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324104013/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/11871598/Russia-forgot-to-send-toothbrush-with-first-woman-in-space.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On 14 March 1995,<ref>{{cite book |url = https://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/references/documents/mirfinal.pdf#page=61 |title = Mir Mission Chronicle: November 1994 – August 1996 |last = McDonald |first = Sue |date = December 1998 |publisher = NASA |pages = 52–53 |id = NASA/TP-98-207890 |access-date = 16 June 2019 |archive-date = 16 July 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190716183315/https://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/references/documents/mirfinal.pdf#page=61 |url-status = dead }}</ref> [[Norman Thagard]] became the first American to ride to space on board a Russian launch vehicle, and thus became the first "American cosmonaut".<ref>{{cite news |title = Illustrious alumnus: Former astronaut Thagard recounts thrills of spaceflight |url = https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2017/former-astronaut-alumnus-thagard.html |website = www.utsouthwestern.edu |publisher = Utsouthwestern.edu |date = 4 October 2017 |access-date = 18 August 2019 |archive-date = 18 August 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190818063030/https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2017/former-astronaut-alumnus-thagard.html |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Astronaut-Physician Counting Down to Blastoff Aboard Russian Craft : Shuttle: Dr. Norman Thagard will become the first American to leave the Earth aboard a Soyuz rocket. Mission will take them to the Mir space station. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-22-mn-22879-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=22 January 1995 |archive-date=18 August 2019 |access-date=18 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190818063027/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-22-mn-22879-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>