ASTRONAUT

ASTRONAUT is a person who travels in a spacecraft.

An astronaut is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally reserved for professional space travelers, the terms are sometimes applied to anyone who travels into space, including scientists, politicians, journalists and tourists

"Astronaut" technically applies to all human space travelers regardless of nationality or allegiance; however, astronauts fielded by Russia or the Soviet Union are typically known instead as cosmonauts.

The first astronaut team, comprised of seven men, was selected in 1959. Since then there has been a series of milestones in the history of human spaceflight, including: 1961: Russian Yuri Gagarin was the first human to fly in space. 1961: Alan Shepard was the first American to fly in space.