List of astronauts by year of selection
This is a list of astronauts by year of selection: people selected to train for a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft. Until recently, astronauts were sponsored and trained exclusively by governments, either by the military or by civilian space agencies. However, with the advent of suborbital flight starting with privately funded SpaceShipOne in [|2004], a new category of astronaut was created: the commercial astronaut.
While the term astronaut is sometimes applied to anyone who trains for travels into space—including scientists, politicians, journalists, and tourists—this article lists only professional astronauts, those who have been selected to train as a profession. This includes national space programs and private industry programs which train and/or hire their own professional astronauts.
More than 500 people have trained as astronauts. A list of everyone who has flown in space can be found at List of space travelers by name.
| 1950s: [|1958] [|1959] |
| 1960s: [|1960] [|1962] [|1963] [|1964] [|1965] [|1966] [|1967] [|1968] [|1969] |
| 1970s: [|1970] [|1971] [|1972] [|1973] [|1974] [|1976] [|1977] [|1978] [|1979] |
| 1980s: [|1980] [|1982] [|1983] [|1984] [|1985] [|1986] [|1987] [|1988] [|1989] |
| 1990s: [|1990] [|1992] [|1994] [|1996] [|1997] [|1998] [|1999] |
| 2000s: [|2000] [|2003] 2004 [|2006] [|2008] [|2009] |
| 2010s: [|2010] [|2011] [|2012] [|2013] [|2014] [|2015] [|2017] [|2018] |
North American X-15 Pilots Group (USA)
1958
June 25 – Man in Space Soonest1959
April 9 – NASA Group 1 – Mercury Seven1960
March 7 – Air Force Group 1April – Dyna–Soar Group 1
1962
March 12 – Female GroupSeptember 17 – NASA Group 2 – The Next Nine, aka The Nifty Nine, The New Nine
September 19 – Dyna-Soar Group 2
1963
January 10 – Air Force Group 2October 17, 1963 – NASA Group 3 – The Fourteen
1964
January 25 – Air Force Group 2 SupplementalMay 26 – Voskhod Group – Medical Group 1
June 11 – Civilian Specialist Group 1
1965
June 1 – Journalist Group 1June 1 – Medical Group 2
June 28 – NASA Group 4 – The Scientists
October 28 – Air Force Group 3
November – USAF MOL Group 1
1966
April 4 – NASA Group 5May 23 – Civilian Specialist Group 2
June 30 – USAF MOL Group 2
September – Military Cosmonaut Group
1966–67 – Military Cosmonaut Group
1967
January 31 – Civilian Specialist Group 2 SupplementalFebruary – Soviet crewed lunar programs cosmonauts in two training groups
May 7 – Air Force Group 4
May 22 – Academy of Sciences Group
June – USAF MOL Group 3
October 4 – NASA Group 6 – XS-11 ' '''
Chapman, Holmquest, Llewellyn, and O'Leary resigned from NASA before the end of the Apollo program, and the rest of the group members eventually flew as Mission Specialists during the Space Shuttle program. With his flight on STS-80 at the age of 61, Musgrave held the title of "oldest astronaut" prior to John Glenn's second flight. England resigned from NASA in 1972 but rejoined the astronaut corps in 1979.
1968
May 27 – Civilian Specialist Group 31969
August 14 – NASA Group 7September 10 – Civilian Engineer Group
1970
April 27 – Air Force Group 51971
February 25 – 1971 Scientific GroupMay – Shuguang Group 1970
1972
March 22 – Civilian Specialist Group 4March 22 – Medical Group 3 – USSR
1973
March 27 – Civilian Specialist Group 51974
January 1 – Physician Group1976
August 23 – Air Force Group 6 – Space shuttle Buran crewProtchenko was removed from the squad for health reasons, Ivanov was killed in the crash of a MiG-27 during test pilot training and Kadenyuk was removed from the squad over marital issues. Vasyutin concealed a medical condition from doctors that resulted in his falling ill during the Soyuz T-14/ Salyut 7 EO-4 flight causing the premature termination of the mission 4 months early. This resulted in more stringent cosmonaut medical checks which Moskalenko and Saley failed.
November 25 – 1976 Intercosmos Group
1977
July 12 – The first group of test pilots for Buran – Gromov Flight Research Institute group1978
January 16 – NASA Group 8 – TFNG Thirty-Five New GuysMarch 1 – 1978 Intercosmos Group
May 1 – Spacelab Payload Specialists Group 1
1979
August – USAF Manned Spaceflight Engineer Program – Group 1April 1 – 1979 Intercosmos Group
1980
May 29 – NASA Group 9July 30 – LII–1/IMBP–3/MAP/NPOE-5/AN–2 Cosmonaut Group
1980 – CNES Group 1
1982
August – USAF Manned Spaceflight Engineer ProgramSeptember 11 – 1982 Intercosmos Group
December 1 – Spacelab Payload Specialists Group
1983
April 25 – The second group of test pilots for the project "Buran" – Gromov Flight Research Institute group)December – NRC Group
1984
February 15 – NPOE–6 Cosmonaut GroupMay 23 – NASA Group 10 – The Maggots
June 12 – The third group of test pilots for the project "Buran" – Gromov Flight Research Institute group
Victor Zabolotski.
1985
May – ISRO Insat GroupJune
June 4 – NASA Group 11
July 19 – NASA Teacher in Space Program
August 1 – 1985 NASDA Group
August – USAF Manned Spaceflight Engineer Program – Group 3
September 2 – GKNII–2/NPOE–7 Cosmonaut Group
September 18 – CNES Group 2
September 30 – 1985 Intercosmos Group
October – Indonesian Palapa Group
December 27 – ATLAS–1
1986
January 2 – The fourth group of test pilots for the project "Buran" – Gromov Flight Research Institute groupSergey Tresvyatski and Yuri Schaeffer.
1987
January 5 – Shipka GroupMarch 26 – TsPK–8/NPOE-8 Cosmonaut Group
June 5 – NASA Group 12 – The GAFFers
August 3 – 1987 German Group
1988
February 12 – OS "Mir" Group1989
January 25 – IMBP–5/GKNII–3/NPOE–9/TsPK–10 Cosmonaut Group22 March – The last group of test pilots for the Buran project – Gromov Flight Research Institute group)
May 23 – 1989 Italian Group
September 29 – ATLAS Payload Specialists
November 25 – Project Juno
1990
January 17 – NASA Group 13 – The HairballsFebruary – CNES Group 3
May 11 – TsPK–11 Cosmonaut Group
October 8 – 1990 German Group
1992
March 3 – NPOE-10 Cosmonaut GroupMarch 31 – NASA Group 14 – The Hogs
April – 1992 NASDA Group
June – CSA Group 2
May 15 – 1992 ESA Group
1994
April 1 – NPOE–11 Cosmonaut GroupDecember 12 – NASA Group 15 – The Flying Escargot
1996
February 9 – MKS/RKKE–12 Cosmonaut GroupMarch 26 – MKS supplemental cosmonaut group
May 1 – NASA Group 16 – The Sardines
June – NASDA Group
October – China Group 1996
November – Shuttle-97 Group
1997
April – Shuttle GroupJuly 28 – TsPK–12/RKKE-13 Cosmonaut Group
1998
January – Chinese Group 1February 24 – RKKE-14 Cosmonaut Group
Mart 2 – OS "Mir" Stefanik Group
June 4 – NASA Group 17 – The Penguins
October 7 – 1998 ESA Group
1999
February – 1999 NASDA Group1 November – 1999 ESA Group
2000
July 26 – NASA Group 18 – The Bugs2003
May 23 – TsPK-13/RKKE-15/IMBP-6 Cosmonaut GroupKazakhstan – Group 1
September 11 – SpaceShipOne
2004
May 6 – NASA Group 19 – The Peacocks2006
March 30 – Virgin Galactic Astronaut Pilots GroupSeptember 4 – Angkasawan Group
October 11 – TsPK-14/RKKE-16 Cosmonaut Group
December 25 – Korean Astronaut Program Group
2008
July – Virgin Galactic Astronaut Pilots Group2009
February 25 – JAXA GroupMay 13 – CSA Group
May 20 – ESA Group – The Shenanigans
June 29 – NASA Group 20 – Chumps
September 8 – JAXA Group
2010
March – Chinese Group 2April 12 – [|Association of Spaceflight Professionals] – Group 1
June 7 – Association of Spaceflight Professionals – Group 2
October 12 – TsPK–15/RKKE–17 Cosmonaut Group
2011
January–February – Enrolled in a United squad of Roscosmos astronautsFrom 1 January 2011 at the Research Institute of the Y. A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center is a single detachment of the Russian Space Agency astronauts, which in 2015 consisted of 38 people. The next set of candidates was announced at the beginning of 2016, then postponed until 2017. On September 2016, the unit counted 31 astronauts.
February 28 – Association of Spaceflight Professionals – Group 3
October 26 – Virgin Galactic Astronaut Pilots Group
2012
February – Enrolled in a United squad of Roscosmos cosmonautsOctober 30 – TsPK– Addition Group
2013
May 8 Virgin Galactic Astronaut Pilots GroupJune 3 – Association of Spaceflight Professionals – Group 4
June 17 – NASA Group 21 – 8-Balls '''
2014
July 24 – Virgin Galactic Astronaut Pilots GroupAugust 14 – Individual set into a United detachment of Roscosmos astronauts
2015
January 23 – Virgin Galactic Astronaut Pilots GroupJuly 9 – NASA Commercial Crew Program
July – ESA Astronaut Corps
Copenhagen Suborbitals
2017
June 7 – NASA Group 22 – The TurtlesJuly 1 – 2017 CSA Group
April 19 – 2017 Die Astronautin Selection
2018
August 10 – 17th Cosmonaut GroupSeptember 3 – Emirati Astronaut Group
Commercial advances
The space market exceeds $330 billion today. Current estimates show the number growing to nearly $3 trillion over the next three decades. Human spaceflight is one of the sectors positioned for greatest growth. Commercial astronauts are expected to fill the gap in this transition.Ansari X Prize
The first commercial astronauts were selected by contenders for the Ansari X PRIZE, the first nongovernmental reusable crewed spacecraft, in 2004. Among them include Starchaser Industries directors Steve Bennett and Matt Shewbridge; former NASA astronauts John Bennett Herrington, Richard Searfoss and pilot Dick Rutan ; Canadian engineer Brian Feeney ; and veteran Wally Funk from Mercury 13.
Boeing
Boeing hired former NASA astronaut Chris Ferguson to join the Space Exploration Team. Candidates for Boeing's astronaut corps include former NASA astronauts, commercial scientist astronauts and test pilots who have never flown in space.SpaceX
has employed former NASA astronauts, but did not select any SpaceX employees to fly its commercial vehicles to the International Space Station. No decision has been made about any non-ISS flights.Association of Spaceflight Professionals
The world's first commercial astronaut corps, the Association of Spaceflight Professionals received funding for a series of crewed spaceflight missions through the NASA Flight Opportunities Program in March 2012.Several million dollars have been allocated for detailed spectroscopic analysis of high-altitude noctilucent cloud formations on suborbital flights using rapidly reusable, task-and-deploy spaceplanes.
The organization's commercial astronauts go through a selection process modeled after the NASA Astronaut Corps, which involves NASA astronauts. Some of its members serve as astronaut trainers themselves; some have interviewed as finalists in national space agency astronaut candidate selection campaigns. Yi So-yeon, who completed an orbital mission to the International Space Station, is a member of the organization.
Virgin Galactic
and Virgin Galactic astronauts include Michael Alsbury, Rob Bendall, Richard Branson, Peter Kalogiannis, Niki Lauda, Brian Maisler, Clint Nichols, Wes Persall, Burt Rutan, Peter Seiffert, Peter Siebold, Mark Stucky and Dave Mackay.Teachers in Space
The Teachers in Space program began in 2005. In 2012, the United States Rocket Academy announced that the program was expanding to include a broader range of participants, renaming the initiative Citizens in Space. For its first phase, Citizens in Space selected and trained ten citizen astronaut candidates to fly as payload operators, including four astronaut candidates already in training. Informal educator and aerospace historian Gregory Kennedy was among those listed.Copenhagen Suborbitals
seeks to make Denmark the fourth nation to launch humans above the Kármán line.Mars One
was a private initiative with claims to establish a permanent human colony on Mars by 2023. The project was led by Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, who announced plans for the Mars One mission on May 2012.A Mars One astronaut selection announcement was made on April 19, 2013, and started its search on April 22, 2013. By August 2013, Mars One had more than 200,000 applicants from around the world. Round Two selection results were declared on December 30, 2013, wherein a total of 1058 applicants from 107 countries were selected.
Mars One received a variety of criticism relating to medical, technical and financial feasibility. Unverified rumors claimed that Mars One was a scam designed to take as much money as possible from donors, including those participating as contestants.
In February 2019, it was reported that Mars One had declared bankruptcy in a Swiss court on January 15, 2019, and was permanently dissolved as a company.