In 1960, no one had traveled beyond the globe. More than 700 people have now flown beyond the 50-mile altitude mark, which was considered the boundary of space when spaceflight first began. At that time, there were only two teams, the Soviet Union and the United States, and the players were essentially all military personnel around the age of 30. Since then, astronauts have diversified in many ways. Men and women from 47 countries have reached space, including residents from every continent, most employed by space agencies and some employed by private companies. However, diversity was not a simple step. In 1963, the Soviet Union launched the first woman into space, but in the following years only five more female cosmonauts flew in total, compared to dozens of male cosmonauts every decade. A man has ascended to space.
The number of space visitors peaked in the 1990s, when NASA flew an average of six space shuttle missions a year, with each mission typically carrying five to seven astronauts. . The first shuttle was launched in 1981, but the program was suspended for nearly three years after launch. challenger 1986 disaster. The shuttle fleet was again grounded for more than two years. Columbia They disbanded on the way back to Earth.
Annual age distribution of astronauts sent to space
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Here you can see the age of astronauts for each year that people flew into space. The width of each blob represents the number of fliers of each age. The average age and age spread of astronauts has gradually increased over time.
Astronauts are sent into space over time by operators
For many years, NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos were the world’s only spaceflight entities. The China National Space Administration launched its first astronaut in 2003. After NASA’s Space Shuttle was retired in 2011, the agency purchased astronaut transportation on Russian and then U.S. commercial spacecraft.
Astronauts by nationality, region, gender, and age
A black jagged line separates decades of space travel. Within each zone, the number of space travelers in each geographic area is displayed by gender (solid color for males, striped for females).
Individual astronaut mission data
Each tile represents an individual astronaut. Colors and tile symbols represent each person’s region of citizenship, gender, number of missions, length of space stay, type of flight, and public or private status. White lines indicate problems encountered during space missions and astronauts who died, and white circles indicate astronauts who were in space at the time of writing (December 2024).
