676 individuals have journeyed to space by the U.S. definition, in accordance analysis completed by House Basis.
Credit score: iurii/Shutterstock.
From the early days of the space race, sending people to space has all the time been a precedence.
The International Space Station (ISS) has maintained a steady human presence in orbit for greater than 20 years, and microgravity analysis on space stations has supplied worthwhile perception for future long-term human missions in space. House Basis not too long ago evaluated human spaceflight knowledge and located as of Nov. 7, 2023, 676 individuals have journeyed to space by the U.S. definition of an altitude of fifty miles (80 kilometers). Of those astronauts, 643 have reached the Kármán line, internationally acknowledged at 100 km (62 miles).

Nearly all of astronauts despatched to space, 86 %, full the journey with at the very least one orbit across the Earth. A further 4 % went past Earth orbit. NASA’s Apollo program despatched 24 males to the Moon within the Nineteen Sixties and 70s — 12 reached lunar orbit whereas one other 12 landed on the floor.
The primary operational flights of the House Shuttle Program within the Eighties introduced a wave of recent people to space. This exercise peaked in 1985 with 38 first-time shuttle astronauts launching to orbit. In newer years, industrial spaceflight operators have led one other wave of recent exercise, this time concentrating on non-public astronauts and vacationers primarily taking suborbital journeys to space.
Public astronauts sometimes full a number of missions in space over their careers — 65 % have two or extra flights in comparison with solely 10 % of personal space vacationers. Retired NASA astronaut and present Virgin Galactic pilot Frederick “C. J.” Sturckow stays the one particular person to have visited space 9 instances.
People from 43 nations have journeyed to space. The U.S. accounts for nearly 61 % of astronauts and 66 % of total space missions flown, whereas Russia takes second place with 134 cosmonauts (20 %).
Probably the most important human spaceflight development in recent times has been a shift to deal with diversification. In comparison with the shortage of range within the Apollo program, the 4 chosen astronauts for the Artemis II mission embrace the primary lady (Christina Koch), the primary particular person of shade (Victor Glover), and the primary non-American (the Canadian House Company’s Jeremy Hansen) to journey past Earth orbit.
The industrial spaceflight sector is increasing entry to space for vacationers. Up to now three years, 69 non-public astronauts reached space for the primary time — 46 above the Kármán line and 23 above the U.S. definition of space.
Zoe Hobbs is an economist and senior knowledge analyst at House Basis.