Chronology of notable astronauts

name mission date accomplishment

Yury Gagarin (Gagarin, Yury Alekseyevich) Vostok 1 (Vostok) April 12, 1961 first man in space

Alan Shepard (Shepard, Alan B., Jr.) Mercury-Redstone 3 (Mercury) (Freedom 7) May 5, 1961 first American in space

Gherman Titov (Titov, Gherman Stepanovich) Vostok 2 Aug. 6, 1961 first to spend more than one day in space; youngest person (25 years old) in space

John Glenn (Glenn, John H., Jr.) Mercury-Atlas 6 (Friendship 7) Feb. 20, 1962 first American in orbit

STS-95 (space shuttle) (Discovery) Oct. 28–Nov. 7, 1998 oldest person (77 years old) in space

Adriyan Nikolayev (Nikolayev, Andriyan Grigoryevich);

Pavel Popovich (Popovich, Pavel Romanovich) Vostok 3;

Vostok 4 Aug. 11–15, 1962;

Aug. 12–15, 1962 first simultaneous flight of two spacecraft

Valentina Tereshkova (Tereshkova, Valentina) Vostok 6 June 16–19, 1963 first woman in space

Konstantin Feoktistov (Feoktistov, Konstantin Petrovich);

Vladimir Komarov (Komarov, Vladimir Mikhaylovich);

Boris Yegorov (Yegorov, Boris Borisovich) Voshkod 1 Oct. 12–13, 1964 first multimanned spacecraft; first doctor in space (Yegorov)

Aleksey Leonov (Leonov, Aleksey Arkhipovich) Voshkod 2 March 18–19, 1965 first person to walk in space

Roger Chaffee (Chaffee, Roger B.);

Virgil Grissom (Grissom, Virgil I.);

Edward White II (White, Edward H., II) Apollo 1 (Apollo program) Jan. 27, 1967 killed in fire while testing spacecraft

Vladimir Komarov Soyuz 1 (Soyuz) April 23–24, 1967 first spaceflight casualty

William Anders (Anders, William A.);

Frank Borman (Borman, Frank);

James Lovell (Lovell, James A(rthur), Jr.) Apollo 8 Dec. 21–27, 1968 first to fly around the Moon

Neil Armstrong (Armstrong, Neil);

Edwin ("Buzz") Aldrin (Aldrin, Edwin Eugene, Jr.) Apollo 11 July 16–24, 1969 first to walk on the Moon

Fred Haise (Haise, Fred W., Jr.);

James Lovell;

Jack Swigert Apollo 13 April 11–17, 1970 farthest from Earth (401,056 km 【249,205 miles】); survived oxygen-tank explosion

Georgy Dobrovolsky;

Viktor Patsayev (Patsayev, Viktor Ivanovich);

Vladislav Volkov (Volkov, Vladislav Nikolayevich) Soyuz 11/Salyut 1 (Salyut) June 6–29, 1971 first stay on a space station; first to die in space

Eugene Cernan (Cernan, Eugene Andrew);

Harrison Schmitt Apollo 17 Dec. 7–19, 1972 last to walk on the Moon

Vance Brand;

Donald Slayton (Slayton, Donald Kent);

Thomas Stafford (Stafford, Thomas P.);

Valery Kubasov;

Aleksey Leonov Apollo-Soyuz July 17–19, 1975 first joint U.S.-Soviet spaceflight

Sigmund Jähn Soyuz 31/Salyut 6/Soyuz 29 Aug. 26–Sept. 3, 1978 first German astronaut in space

Jean-Loup Chrétien (Chrétien, Jean-Loup) Soyuz T-6/Salyut 7 June 24–July 2, 1982 first French astronaut in space

Sally Ride (Ride, Sally) STS-7 (Challenger) June 18–24, 1983 first American woman in space

Guion Bluford (Bluford, Guion S., Jr.) STS-8 (Challenger) Aug. 30–Sept. 5, 1983 first African American in space

Ulf Merbold (Merbold, Ulf) STS-9 (Columbia) Nov. 28–Dec. 8, 1983 first ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut in space

Rakesh Sharma Soyuz T-11/Salyut 7 April 3–11, 1984 first Indian in space

Marc Garneau (Garneau, Marc) STS-41-G (Challenger) Oct. 5–13, 1984 first Canadian in space

Franklin Chang-Díaz (Chang-Díaz, Franklin) STS-61-C (Columbia) Jan. 12–18, 1986 first Hispanic American in space

Christa McAuliffe (McAuliffe, Christa Corrigan) STS-51-L (Challenger) Jan. 28, 1986 was to have been the first teacher in space; killed in Challenger explosion

Akiyama Tohiro Soyuz TM-11/ Mir/

Soyuz TM-10 Dec. 2–10, 1990 first Japanese in space;

first commercial astronaut

Helen Sharman Soyuz TM-12/Mir/

Soyuz TM-11 May 18–26, 1991 first Briton in space; first non-U.S., non-Russian female astronaut

Mae Jemison (Jemison, Mae);

Mohri Mamoru STS-47 (Endeavour) Sept. 12–20, 1992 first African American woman in space; first Japanese astronaut in space

Ellen Ochoa (Ochoa, Ellen) STS-56 (Discovery) April 8–17, 1993 first Hispanic American woman in space

Valery Polyakov (Polyakov, Valery Vladimirovich) Soyuz TM-18/Mir/

Soyuz TM-20 Jan. 8, 1994–

March 22, 1995 longest stay in space (438 days)

Sergey Krikalyov (Krikalyov, Sergey Konstantinovich) STS-60 (Discovery) Feb. 3–11, 1994 first Russian on U.S. spacecraft

Eileen Collins (Collins, Eileen) STS-93 (Columbia) July 23–28, 1999 first female space shuttle commander

Dennis Tito Soyuz TM-32/ISS (International Space Station)/

Soyuz TM-31 April 28–May 6, 2001 first space tourist

Jerry Ross STS-110 (Atlantis)/ISS April 8–19, 2002 first person to fly into space seven times

Yang Liwei Shenzhou 5 Oct. 15, 2003 first Chinese astronaut in space

Michael Melvill SpaceShipOne June 21, 2004 first private spaceflight

Yi So-yeon Soyuz TMA-12/ISS/Soyuz TMA-11 April 8–19, 2008 first Korean astronaut in space