Learn about the outstanding accomplishments of significant space race astronauts. Explore the pioneering expeditions and contributions to space exploration by Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong. Discover these pioneers’ tales in this thorough look at the most important players in the Space Race.
Astronaut | Achievements |
Yuri Gagarin | First human in space |
Alan Shepard | First American in space |
John Glenn | First American to orbit Earth |
Valentina Tereshkova | First woman in space |
Neil Armstrong | First person on the moon |
Buzz Aldrin | Second person on the moon |
Michael Collins | Orbited the moon during Apollo 11 |
Sally Ride | First American woman in space |
Alexei Leonov | First person to walk in space |
Jim Lovell | Command Module Pilot of Apollo 13 |
Valeri Polyakov | Longest single spaceflight (437 days) |
Eileen Collins | First female Space Shuttle pilot and commander |
Kalpana Chawla | Indian-American astronaut, died in the Space Shuttle |
Mae Jemison | First African-American woman in space |
Peggy Whitson | Most time spent in space by an American astronaut |
Chris Hadfield | Canadian astronaut, commanded the ISS |
Liu Yang | First Chinese woman in space |
Samantha Cristoforetti | Longest single spaceflight by a woman (199 days) |
Scott Kelly | Spent a year aboard the ISS for the Twins Study |
Yuri Malenchenko | Longest time spent on the ISS |
Mae C. Jemison | First African-American woman in space |
Gene Cernan | Last person to walk on the moon |
Yuriy Usachov | Commanded the Mir space station |
Peggy Whitson | First female commander of the ISS |
Mark Shuttleworth | First African in space |
Anousheh Ansari | First female space tourist |
Sergey Prokopyev | Performed spacewalk to repair Soyuz |
Luca Parmitano | First Italian commander of the ISS |
Christina H. Koch | Set record for longest continuous spaceflight by a woman |
Andrew R. Morgan | Conducted multiple spacewalks on the ISS |
Thomas Pesquet | French astronaut, multiple ISS missions |
Yury Romanenko | Completed three long-duration spaceflights |
Rakesh Sharma | First Indian in space |
Claude Nicollier | Swiss astronaut, multiple Space Shuttle missions |
Frank De Winne | First European commander of the ISS |
Zhang Xiaoguang | Chinese astronaut, multiple missions |
Jessica Meir | Conducted historic all-female spacewalk |
Pedro Duque | First Spanish astronaut |
Kjell N. Lindgren | Conducted multiple spacewalks on the ISS |
Yelena Serova | First Russian woman to visit the ISS |
Michael Alsbury | Test pilot, died in the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo crash |
Timothy Creamer | Conducted spacewalk during STS-130 |
Oleg Artemyev | Russian astronaut, multiple ISS missions |
Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor | First Malaysian in space |
Michael J. Massimino | Performed spacewalks to repair Hubble Telescope |
Richard R. Arnold | Conducted space |
Richard R. Arnold | Conducted spacewalks on the ISS |
Koichi Wakata | Japanese astronaut, multiple ISS missions |
Oleg Kononenko | Russian astronaut, multiple ISS missions |
Andreas Mogensen | First Danish astronaut |
Samantha D. Cristoforetti | Italian astronaut, ISS missions |
Sergey Revin | Russian astronaut, ISS missions |
Liu Boming | Chinese astronaut, multiple missions |
Andreas E. F. Stettmer | German astronaut, ISS missions |
Koichi Wakata | First Japanese commander of the ISS |
Luca Parmitano | Conducted spacewalks on the ISS |
Karen Nyberg | Conducted spacewalk on the ISS |
Tim Peake | First British astronaut to visit the ISS |
Robert H. Lawrence Jr. | First African-American astronaut (posthumously honored) |
Kathy Sullivan | First American woman to walk in space |
Jeanette Epps | African-American astronaut, assigned to ISS mission |
Vande Hei, Mark T. | Long-duration spaceflight on ISS |
Haigneré, Claudie | French astronaut, multiple spaceflights |
Fincke, Michael E. | Multiple ISS missions, spacewalks |
Ivanishin, Anatoli | Russian astronaut, ISS missions |
Wakata, Koichi | First Japanese commander of the ISS |
Kimiya Yui | Japanese astronaut, ISS missions |
Kornienko, Mikhail | Conducted one-year mission on the ISS |
Peake, Timothy | British astronaut, ISS mission |
Whitson, Peggy A. | First female commander of the ISS |
Ryzhikov, Sergey | Russian astronaut, ISS missions |
Fischer, Jack D. | Conducted spacewalks on the ISS |
Mackey, Jerry L. | Astronaut candidate, did not fly |
Metcalf-Lindenburger, Dottie | Space Shuttle mission |
Behnken, Robert L. | Multiple Space Shuttle missions, ISS missions |
Noguchi, Soichi | Japanese astronaut, multiple missions |
Wilson, Stephanie D. | Astronaut candidate, did not fly |
Hopkins, Michael S. | Long-duration spaceflight on the ISS |
Glover, Victor J. | African-American astronaut, ISS mission |
Rubins, Kathleen | Conducted spacewalk on the ISS |
Pesquet, Thomas | French astronaut, multiple missions |
Kimbrough, Robert H. | Conducted spacewalks on the ISS |
Acaba, Joseph M. | Multiple Space Shuttle missions, ISS missions |
Tingle, Scott D. | Astronaut candidate, did not fly |
Prokopyev, Sergey | Russian astronaut, ISS missions |
Artemyev, Oleg | Conducted spacewalks on the ISS |
McClain, Anne C. | Conducted spacewalks on the ISS |
Hague, Tyler N. | Astronaut candidate, ISS mission |
Koch, Christina H. | Conducted spacewalks on the ISS |
Skvortsov, Aleksey | Russian astronaut |