Editing Astronaut (section)

==Space travel milestones==
{{See also|Spaceflight records|Timeline of space travel by nationality}}
<!--First Man, First Woman, First on the Moon, in chronological order.-->
[[File:Gagarin in Sweden.jpg|thumb|upright=0.667|[[Yuri Gagarin]], first human in space (1961)]]
[[File:RIAN archive 612748 Valentina Tereshkova.jpg|thumb|upright=0.667|[[Valentina Tereshkova]], first [[women in space|woman in space]] (1963)]]
[[File:Neil Armstrong pose.jpg|thumb|upright=0.667|[[Neil Armstrong]], first human to walk on the Moon (1969)]]
[[File:VladimirRemek.jpg|thumb|upright=0.667|[[Vladimír Remek]], a [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]] who became the first non-American and non-Soviet cosmonaut in space (1978)]]
[[File:Yang Liwei.jpg|thumb|upright=0.667|[[Yang Liwei]], first person sent into space by China (2003)]]
[[File:Astronaut Nationalities.svg|thumb|260px|Map of countries whose citizens have flown in space]]
The first human in space was Soviet [[Yuri Gagarin]], who was launched on 12 April 1961, aboard [[Vostok 1]] and orbited around the Earth for 108 minutes. The first woman in space was Soviet [[Valentina Tereshkova]], who launched on 16 June 1963, aboard [[Vostok 6]] and orbited Earth for almost three days.

[[Alan Shepard]] became the first American and second person in space on 5 May 1961, on a 15-minute sub-orbital flight aboard ''[[Mercury-Redstone 3|Freedom 7]]''. The first American to orbit the Earth was [[John Glenn]], aboard ''[[Friendship 7]]'' on 20 February 1962. The first American woman in space was [[Sally Ride]], during [[Space Shuttle Challenger|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'']]'s mission [[STS-7]], on 18 June 1983.<ref name="ride1">{{cite web|url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ride-sk.html|title=Sally K. Ride, PhD Biography|access-date=4 October 2007 |publisher=NASA|year=2006|author=NASA| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071016072450/http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ride-sk.html| archive-date= 16 October 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> In 1992, [[Mae Jemison]] became the first African American woman to travel in space aboard [[STS-47]].

Cosmonaut [[Alexei Leonov]] was the first person to conduct an [[extravehicular activity]] (EVA), (commonly called a "spacewalk"), on 18 March 1965, on the Soviet Union's Voskhod 2 mission. This was followed two and a half months later by astronaut [[Ed White (astronaut)|Ed White]] who made the first American EVA on NASA's Gemini 4 mission.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/k-4/features/F_Going_Out.html|title=Educator Features: Going Out for a Walk|work=NASA|access-date=27 November 2015|archive-date=5 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151205071323/http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/k-4/features/F_Going_Out.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The first crewed mission to orbit the Moon, [[Apollo 8]], included American [[William Anders]] who was born in Hong Kong, making him the first Asian-born astronaut in 1968.

The Soviet Union, through its [[Intercosmos]] program, allowed people from multiple other countries, mostly Soviet-allied but also including from France and [[Austria]], to participate in [[Soyuz TM-7]] and [[Soyuz TM-13]], respectively. This made the [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]] [[Vladimír Remek]] the first cosmonaut/astronaut from a country other than the [[Soviet space program|Soviet Union]] or the [[NASA|United States]] to fly to space in 1978 on a [[Soyuz-U]] rocket.<ref name="enc">{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/astros/remek.htm|title=Vladimir Remek Czech Pilot Cosmonaut|access-date=4 October 2007 |publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|year=2007|author=Encyclopedia Astronautica| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071013100622/http://astronautix.com/astros/remek.htm| archive-date= 13 October 2007 | url-status= dead}}</ref>

On 23 July 1980, [[Pham Tuan]] of [[Vietnam]] became the first [[Asian people|Asian]] in space when he flew aboard [[Soyuz 37]].<ref name="tuan">{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/flights/salt6ep7.htm|title=Salyut 6 EP-7|access-date=4 October 2007 |publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|year=2007|author=Encyclopedia Astronautica| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070930195347/http://www.astronautix.com/flights/salt6ep7.htm| archive-date= 30 September 2007 | url-status= dead}}</ref> Also in 1980, [[Cubans|Cuban]] [[Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez]] became the first person of black African descent, as well as the first Hispanic astronaut. In 1983, [[Guion Bluford]] became the first African American to fly into space. In April 1985, the Taiwanese-American [[Taylor Wang]] became the first ethnic Chinese person in space.<ref name="taylorbio">{{cite web |url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/wang-t.html|title=Taylor G. Wang Biography| access-date=4 October 2007 | publisher=NASA| year=1985| author=NASA| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070919003409/http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/wang-t.html| archive-date= 19 September 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref name="taylor">{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/astros/wang.htm|title=Taylor Wang| access-date=4 October 2007 |publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|year=2007|author=Encyclopedia Astronautica| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070827132048/http://www.astronautix.com/astros/wang.htm| archive-date= 27 August 2007 | url-status= dead}}</ref> 

With the increase of seats on the Space Shuttle, the U.S. also began taking international astronauts. In 1983, [[Ulf Merbold]] of West Germany became the first non-US citizen to fly in a US spacecraft. In 1984, [[Marc Garneau]] became the first of eight [[Canadian astronauts]] to fly in space (through 2010).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/missions/default.asp|title=Space Missions|first=Government of Canada, Canadian Space Agency, Directions of communications, Information services and new|last=media|date=4 September 2014|access-date=9 October 2010|archive-date=25 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100425060056/http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/missions/default.asp|url-status=live}}</ref> The first person born in Africa to fly in space was [[Patrick Baudry]] of France, in 1985.<ref name="mendez">{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/astros/tamendez.htm|title=Tamayo-Mendez|access-date=4 October 2007 |publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|year=2007|author=Encyclopedia Astronautica| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070930214432/http://www.astronautix.com/astros/tamendez.htm| archive-date= 30 September 2007 | url-status= dead}}</ref><ref name="baudry">{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/astros/baudry.htm|title=Baudry|access-date=4 October 2007 |publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|year=2007|author=Encyclopedia Astronautica| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071013100617/http://astronautix.com/astros/baudry.htm| archive-date= 13 October 2007 | url-status= dead}}</ref> In same NASA flight as the Frenchman was the Saudi Arabian [[Sultan Salman al-Saud|Prince Sultan Bin Salman Bin AbdulAziz Al-Saud]], who became the first Muslim and Arab astronaut.<ref name="MC">{{cite web|url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/al-saud.html|title=Sultan Bin Salman Al-Saud Biography|access-date=1 May 2011 |publisher=NASA|year=2006|author=NASA| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110525174947/http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/al-saud.html| archive-date= 25 May 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref>
In 1985, [[Rodolfo Neri Vela]] became the first Mexican-born person in space.<ref name="vela">{{cite web|url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/nerivela-r.html|title=Rodolfo Neri Vela (PhD) Biography|access-date=4 October 2007 |publisher=NASA|year=1985|author=NASA| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071027235759/http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/nerivela-r.html| archive-date= 27 October 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> In 1991, [[Helen Sharman]] became the first Briton to fly in space.<ref name="bbcsharmon">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/18/newsid_2380000/2380649.stm|title=1991: Sharman becomes first Briton in space|access-date=4 October 2007 |work=BBC News|author=BBC News | date=18 May 1991| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070905072027/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/18/newsid_2380000/2380649.stm| archive-date= 5 September 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref>

In 2001, American [[Dennis Tito]] became the first [[space tourist]], after paying a fee for a trip aboard Russian spacecraft Soyuz. In 2002, another private tourist, the South African [[Mark Shuttleworth]], became the first citizen of an African country to fly into space.<ref name="mark">{{cite web|url=http://www.africaninspace.com/home/mission/logs/1/20020610.shtml|title=First African in Space|access-date=4 October 2007|publisher=HBD|year=2002|author=africaninspace.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013043906/http://africaninspace.com/home/mission/logs/1/20020610.shtml|archive-date=13 October 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On 15 October 2003, [[Yang Liwei]] became China's first astronaut on its own spacecraft, the [[Shenzhou 5]].

===Age milestones===

The youngest person to reach space is [[Oliver Daemen]], who was 18 years and 11 months old when he made a [[Sub-orbital spaceflight|suborbital]] spaceflight on [[Blue Origin NS-16]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Blue Origin's Bezos reaches space on 1st passenger flight |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/jul/20/bezos-riding-own-rocket-companys-1st-flight-people/ |website=Arkansas Online |access-date=20 July 2021 |language=en |date=20 July 2021 |archive-date=20 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210720123413/https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/jul/20/bezos-riding-own-rocket-companys-1st-flight-people/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Daemen, who was a commercial passenger aboard the [[New Shepard]], broke the record of Soviet [[cosmonaut]] [[Gherman Titov]], who was 25 years old when he flew [[Vostok 2]]. Titov remains the youngest human to reach [[Geocentric orbit|orbit]]; he rounded the planet 17 times. Titov was also the first person to suffer [[space sickness]] and the first person to sleep in space, twice.<ref name="age">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/6/newsid_2944000/2944638.stm |title=1961: Russian cosmonaut spends day in space |access-date=4 October 2007 |work=BBC News |author=BBC News |date=6 August 2007 |archive-date=3 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171103222148/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/6/newsid_2944000/2944638.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="titov">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-sep-22-me-25219-story.html |title=Obituaries—Gherman S. Titov; Cosmonaut Was Second Man to Orbit Earth |access-date=4 February 2015 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=22 September 2000 |author=Robyn Dixon |archive-date=30 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130143903/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-sep-22-me-25219-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The oldest person to reach space is [[William Shatner]], who was 90 years old when he made a suborbital spaceflight on [[Blue Origin NS-18]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.space.com/how-space-tourism-could-affect-older-people|title=William Shatner oldest astronaut at 90 – Here's how space tourism could affect older people|date=October 19, 2021|work=[[Space.com]]|archive-date=17 July 2022|access-date=17 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717035433/https://www.space.com/how-space-tourism-could-affect-older-people|url-status=live}}</ref> The oldest person to reach orbit is [[John Glenn]], one of the [[Mercury 7]], who was 77 when he flew on [[STS-95]].<ref name="glenn">{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/bios/glennbio.html |title=John Herschel Glenn, Jr. (Colonel, USMC, Ret.) NASA Astronaut |access-date=4 October 2007 |publisher=NASA |year=2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014013832/http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/bios/glennbio.html |archive-date=14 October 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Duration and distance milestones===
The longest time spent in space was by Russian [[Valeri Polyakov]], who spent 438 days there.<ref name="stats"/>
As of 2006, the most spaceflights by an individual astronaut is seven, a record held by both [[Jerry L. Ross]] and [[Franklin Chang-Diaz]]. The farthest distance from Earth an astronaut has traveled was {{convert|401056|km|0|abbr=on}}, when [[Jim Lovell]], [[Jack Swigert]], and [[Fred Haise]] went around the Moon during the [[Apollo 13]] emergency.<ref name="stats"/>

===Civilian and non-government milestones===
The first civilian in space was [[Valentina Tereshkova]]<ref name="Valentina Vladimirovna TERESHKOVA">{{cite web|url=http://www.adm.yar.ru/english/section.aspx?section_id=74 |title=Valentina Vladimirovna TERESHKOVA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110423074712/http://www.adm.yar.ru/english/section.aspx?section_id=74 |archive-date=23 April 2011 }}</ref> aboard [[Vostok 6]] (she also became the first woman in space on that mission).
Tereshkova was only honorarily inducted into the USSR's Air Force, which did not accept female pilots at that time. A month later, [[Joseph Albert Walker]] became the first American civilian in space when his [[X-15 Flight 90]] crossed the {{convert|100|km|nmi|sp=us|abbr=off}} line, qualifying him by the international definition of spaceflight.<ref name="Civilians in Space">{{Cite web|url=http://www.fourmilab.ch/fourmilog/archives/2006-08/000736.html|title=Puzzle: Civilians in Space (Fourmilog: None Dare Call It Reason)|website=www.fourmilab.ch|access-date=3 May 2010|archive-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819002224/http://www.fourmilab.ch/fourmilog/archives/2006-08/000736.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Space.com Joseph A Walker">{{Cite web|url=http://www.space.com/adastra/adastra_joewalker_061127.html|title=Higher & Faster: Memorial Fund Established for X-15 pilot Joseph A. Walker|website=[[Space.com]]|date=27 November 2006|access-date=3 May 2010|archive-date=13 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713235129/http://www.space.com/adastra/adastra_joewalker_061127.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Walker had joined the US Army Air Force but was not a member during his flight.
The first people in space who had never been a member of any country's armed forces were both [[Konstantin Feoktistov]] and [[Boris Yegorov]] aboard [[Voskhod 1]].

The first non-governmental space traveler was [[Byron K. Lichtenberg]], a researcher from the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] who flew on [[STS-9]] in 1983.<ref name="lichten">{{cite web|url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/lichtenberg-bk.html|title=Byron K. Lichtenberg Biography|access-date=4 October 2007 |publisher=NASA|year=2002|author=NASA| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070919000449/http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/lichtenberg-bk.html| archive-date= 19 September 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> In December 1990, [[Toyohiro Akiyama]] became the first paying space traveler and the first journalist in space for [[Tokyo Broadcasting System]], a visit to [[Mir]] as part of an estimated $12&nbsp;million (USD) deal with a Japanese TV station, although at the time, the term used to refer to Akiyama was "Research Cosmonaut".<ref name="smith">{{cite web|url=http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/GAL114/SpaceRace/sec500/sec535.htm|title=Paying for a Ride|access-date=4 October 2007 |publisher=Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum|year=2007|author=Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071026073942/http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal114/SpaceRace/sec500/sec535.htm| archive-date= 26 October 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref name="bbc1">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/sci_tech/2001/mir/1990.stm|title=Mir Space Station 1986–2001|access-date=4 October 2007|work=BBC News|year=1990|author=BBC News|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225030425/http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/sci_tech/2001/mir/1990.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="de">{{cite web|url=http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/international/english/akiyama_toyohiro.htm|title=Akiyama|access-date=4 October 2007 |publisher=Spacefacts|year=1990|author=Spacefacts| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070930033534/http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/international/english/akiyama_toyohiro.htm| archive-date= 30 September 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> Akiyama suffered severe [[space adaptation syndrome|space sickness]] during his mission, which affected his productivity.<ref name="bbc1"/>

The first self-funded [[space tourist]] was [[Dennis Tito]] on board the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-3 on 28 April 2001.

===Self-funded travelers===
{{further|Space tourism}}
The first person to fly on an entirely privately funded mission was [[Mike Melvill]], piloting [[SpaceShipOne flight 15P]] on a suborbital journey, although he was a [[test pilot]] employed by [[Scaled Composites]] and not an actual paying space tourist.<ref name="eve">{{cite web|url=http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/SS1_pilot_040620.html |title=Pilot Announced on Eve of Private Space Mission |access-date=4 October 2007 |publisher=Space.com |year=2004 |author=Leonard David |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213031153/http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/SS1_pilot_040620.html |archive-date=13 February 2006 }}</ref><ref name="rci">{{cite web|url=http://www.roycecarlton.com/speakers/melvill.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011134507/http://www.roycecarlton.com/speakers/melvill.html|archive-date=11 October 2007|title=Michael Melvill, First Civilian Astronaut, SpaceShipOne|access-date=4 October 2007 |publisher=Royce Carlton Inc.|year=2007|url-status=usurped|author=Royce Carlton Inc}}</ref> [[Jared Isaacman]] was the first person to self-fund a mission to orbit, commanding [[Inspiration4]] in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Overbye |first=Dennis |date=2021-09-21 |title=What a Fungus Reveals About the Space Program |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/science/fungus-pilobolus-space-astronauts.html |access-date=2023-12-17 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=6 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220406125224/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/science/fungus-pilobolus-space-astronauts.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Nine others have paid [[Space Adventures]] to fly to the [[International Space Station]]:

# [[Dennis Tito]] (American): 28 April – 6 May 2001 
# [[Mark Shuttleworth]] (South African): 25 April – 5 May 2002 
# [[Gregory Olsen]] (American): 1–11 October 2005
# [[Anousheh Ansari]] (Iranian / American): 18–29 September 2006
# [[Charles Simonyi]] (Hungarian / American): 7–21 April 2007, 26 March – 8 April 2009
# [[Richard Garriott]] (British / American): 12–24 October 2008 
# [[Guy Laliberté]] (Canadian): 30 September 2009 – 11 October 2009 
# [[Yusaku Maezawa]] and [[Yozo Hirano]] (both Japanese): 8 – 24 December 2021