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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Astronauts surprised by holiday turkey dinners

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 26, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

(AP) -- Space shuttle Atlantis' astronauts thought they were going to give thanks with pantry leftovers Thursday as their mission drew to a close, but found turkey dinners awaiting them.

Space shuttle Atlantis, 7 astronauts back on Earth

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 27, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew of seven astronauts ended an 11-day journey of nearly 4.5 million miles with a 9:44 a.m. EST landing Friday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

US astronaut Timothy Creamer (L), Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov (C), and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi (R)

Astronauts to taste 'space sushi'

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 03, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

US astronaut Timothy Creamer said on Thursday he was impatient to taste "space sushi" courtesy of his Japanese crewmate after they arrive on the International Space Station (ISS) later this month.