What is the origin of the word astronaut?
The word astronaut comes from two Ancient Greek roots meaning star and sailor. This definition describes a person trained to serve as a crew member of a spacecraft.
The word astronaut comes from two Ancient Greek roots meaning star and sailor. This definition describes a person trained to serve as a crew member of a spacecraft.
Soviet Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on the 12th of April 1961 aboard Vostok 1. He orbited Earth for 108 minutes before returning safely.
Modern candidates must be United States citizens holding a master degree in STEM fields like engineering or computer science. They need either two years of professional experience after graduation or at least 1,000 hours pilot-in-command time on jet aircraft.
Astronauts face multiple health risks including decompression sickness barotrauma immunodeficiencies and radiation injury. Vision problems known as visual impairment intracranial pressure affect nearly two-thirds of space explorers after long ISS missions.
Dennis Tito became the first paying space tourist aboard Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-3 starting the 28th of April 2001. Government agencies sponsored all astronauts until 2004 when privately funded SpaceShipOne achieved suborbital flight.