Related topics: nasa , international space station , space station , shuttle



Astronaut

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An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft. While generally reserved for professional space travelers, the term is sometimes applied to anyone who travels into space, including scientists, politicians, journalists, and tourists.

Until 2003, astronauts were sponsored and trained exclusively by governments, either by the military, or by civilian space agencies. However, with the sub-orbital flight of the privately-funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of astronaut was created: the commercial astronaut.

For more information about Astronaut, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with astronauts

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NASA tries 2nd time to launch experimental rocket (AP)

NASA tries 2nd time to launch experimental rocket

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 28, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

(AP) -- Bad weather was interfering with NASA's attempt to launch a new, experimental rocket for the second day in a row early Wednesday.


Circus founder calls his trip to space a success (AP)

Circus founder calls his trip to space a success

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 13, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte on Tuesday called his 10-day space mission "a great success" because it drew attention to his efforts to guarantee access to clean water worldwide.


NASA Invites Young People to Take Virtual Space Station Spacewalks

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 06, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Imagine the thrill of floating out of the International Space Station and into the emptiness of space and what it would be like to work on the orbiting science laboratory.


First NASA Astronaut on Twitter Tops a Million Followers

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 06, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- The first astronaut to tweet from space has passed another social media milestone. NASA's Mike Massimino, known as @Astro_Mike on Twitter, now shares his daily experiences with more than a million followers ...


astronaut

Micro-gravity a health hazard for astronauts: research

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 02, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- UNSW researchers may have pinpointed the cause of muscle wasting and bone-density loss experienced by astronauts who fly lengthy missions under the weightless conditions of space.


Circus tycoon, 2 crew board orbiting space station (AP)

Circus tycoon clowns around aboard space station

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 02, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- A Canadian circus billionaire boarded the International Space Station on Friday after a smooth ride up from Earth, and promptly played the entertainer by donning a red clown nose for a camera.


Craft carrying circus tycoon reaches space station

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 02, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- A Russian spacecraft docked Friday at the International Space Station to drop off Canadian circus billionaire Guy Laliberte - dubbed the first clown in space - along with an American astronaut and Russian cosmonaut.


A Second Look at Apollo 11

A Second Look at Apollo 11

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 01, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (14) | comments 10

A month after LROC's first image of the Apollo 11 landing site was acquired, LRO passed over again providing the LROC instrument a new view of the historic site. ...


Canadian circus billionaire heads to space station (AP)

Canadian circus billionaire heads to space station

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 30, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- A Canadian circus tycoon, an American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut blasted off in a spacecraft from the Kazakh steppe Wednesday on a journey to the International Space Station.


NASA Seeks Ideas For New Prize Challenges

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 28, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Innovative Partnerships Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington is offering an opportunity for the public to help shape the prize challenges the agency offers to America's future citizen-inventors.


Augmented reality to help astronauts make sense of space

Augmented reality to help astronauts make sense of space

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 22, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Life aboard the International Space Station is hard work. Crewmembers have a multiplicity of complex tasks, potentially involving thousands of tools, components and other items. But ESA astronaut ...


Veteran crew named for final space shuttle flight

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 18, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- NASA's chief astronaut will shut off the lights on America's space shuttle program.


The International Space Station

Space station crew grabs new cargo ship from orbit

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 17, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(AP) -- A brand new Japanese space station cargo ship has arrived at its destination 225 miles above Earth.


China picks first female astronaut candidates

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 17, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(AP) -- China's military-backed space program has selected 45 astronaut candidates, including its first women hopefuls, for a training program less than a year after the country completed its first spacewalk.


Rain, wind keep space shuttle flying extra day (AP)

Bad weather further stalls shuttle landing

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 11, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- Bad weather in Florida has stalled space shuttle Discovery's landing once more.