
Astronaut - Wikipedia
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek ἄστρον (astron), meaning 'star', and ναύτης (nautes), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program …
Astronaut | Definition, Facts, & Training | Britannica
Dec 17, 2025 · 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 …
Astronauts - NASA
Dec 8, 2025 · The term “astronaut” derives from the Greek words meaning “star sailor,” and refers to all who have been launched as crew members aboard NASA spacecraft bound for orbit and …
ASTRONAUT Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of ASTRONAUT is a person whose profession is to travel beyond the earth's atmosphere; broadly : any person who travels beyond the earth's atmosphere.
Complete List of Astronauts | NASA & Global Space Explorers
Discover a definitive list of astronauts from NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, and more. Explore bios, mission details, and careers of global space explorers, past and present. Your ultimate …
Alan Shepard: First American in Space - National Air and Space Museum
Alan Shepard became the first American and the second man in space on May 5, 1961, when he piloted the Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7 on a 490-kilometer (300-mile), 15-minute suborbital …
Astronaut Fact Book - NASA
As of November 2024, there are 47 active astronauts, 12 management astronauts, and 332 former astronauts or payload specialists, including those who have left NASA, and those who …
NASA Astronaut Corps - Wikipedia
The NASA Astronaut Corps is a unit of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that selects, trains, and provides astronauts as crew members for U.S. …
Astronauts | Encyclopedia.com
May 23, 2018 · An astronaut is a person trained to perform a specific task on a craft designed and intended to travel beyond Earth 's atmosphere. The term "astronaut" derives from the Greek …
Astronaut | SpaceNext50 | Encyclopedia Britannica
Astronaut, designation, derived from the Greek words for “star” and “sailor,” commonly applied to an individual who has flown in outer space. More specifically, astronauts are those persons …