As of early 2026, there are typically around 7-10 people in space, primarily aboard the International Space Station (ISS), though this number fluctuates with crew rotations and missions, sometimes reaching up to 14 or even setting records like 19 people at once in late 2024. You can find live updates on the exact number of astronauts and cosmonauts on sites like WhoIsInSpace.com.
What we know: NASA SpaceX Crew-9 to return Tuesday with 'stuck' Starliner astronauts. Two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, are returning to Earth after their mission was extended due to a spacecraft malfunction.
Under NASA rules, astronauts are paid at the rate of their usual 40-hours-a-week salary, roughly $152,258 per year, during their time aboard the station — plus $5 a day for expenses.
The magnitude of this scale factor (nearly 300,000 kilometres or 190,000 miles in space being equivalent to one second in time), along with the fact that spacetime is a manifold, implies that at ordinary, non-relativistic speeds and at ordinary, human-scale distances, there is little that humans might observe that is ...
As of November 2024, there are 47 active astronauts, 12 management astronauts, and 332 former astronauts or payload specialists, including those who have left NASA, and those who are deceased.
Krikalev is sometimes referred to as the "last Soviet citizen," having been aboard Mir during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. With the country that launched him no longer existing, his return was delayed, and he remained in space for 311 days—twice as long as planned.
The vacuum of space is actually at an average of approximately -455° Fahrenheit. But here's the thing to remember: That number is an average across all of space in the unfathomable enormity of the universe, the vast majority of which is dark and empty. Meanwhile, our little neighborhood in space is not empty.
But eventually, the lack of oxygen will take its toll. One by one, your major organs will shut down. After only a handful of minutes you will suffer complete organ failure, otherwise known in the medical community as death.
The statement that one hour in space is equivalent to 7 years on Earth is not accurate. Time dilation, a concept from Einstein's theory of relativity, does affect time in space relative to different reference frames, but the effect is typically negligible for most space travel scenarios within our solar system.
Clocks may have to skip a second — called a "negative leap second" — around 2029, a study in the journal Nature said Wednesday. "This is an unprecedented situation and a big deal," said study lead author Duncan Agnew, a geophysicist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.
Alcohol is generally disallowed in spaceflight, but space agencies have previously allowed its consumption. NASA has been stricter about alcohol consumption than the Roscosmos, both according to regulations and in practice. Astronauts and cosmonauts are restricted from being intoxicated at launch.
Armstrong and Scott received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and the Air Force awarded Scott the Distinguished Flying Cross as well. Scott was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and Armstrong received a $678 raise in pay to $21,653 a year (equivalent to $209,845 in 2024), making him NASA's highest-paid astronaut.
FACT: Military experience is not required to become an astronaut. MYTH: You must be a certain age to be an astronaut. FACT: There are no age restrictions. Astronaut candidates selected in the past have ranged between the ages of 26 and 46, with the average age being 34.
In 2019, NASA astronaut Anne McClain found herself at the center of a headline-grabbing controversy—accused of committing the world's “first crime in space.” 🛰️ While on a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station, McClain's estranged spouse, Summer Worden, filed a federal complaint claiming McClain had ...
The UPA, cramps and periods generally being a bit messy, mean many astronauts now choose to not menstruate on missions. By taking birth control in the form of a hormonal pill, people who menstruate can induce amenorrhea (say: uh-men-o-REE-uh).
Because he's afraid of dying before completing his vision of settling Mars. He's hinted at that many times, he was offered to join Dear Moon too. Musk is very aware of rhe 1:270 or better chance. He's not going to take a 0.1% risk or worse to his dream for an LEO joyride, which he doesn't even find impressive.
Return to the Moon
Artemis II, scheduled for launch between February and April sees the return of the first people to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Three American and one Canadian astronaut will orbit the Moon on a 10 day journey that lays the foundation for lunar landings in the coming years.
According to Einstein's General Relativity, which is our best current description of space and time, the only place where time – and also space – ends is in a so-called singularity. This involves gravitational forces becoming so intense that space and time lose all meaning.
In August 2018, researchers reported that water worlds could support life. An ocean world's habitation by Earth-like life is limited if the planet is completely covered by liquid water at the surface, even more restricted if a pressurized, solid ice layer is located between the global ocean and the lower rocky mantle.
Fresh milk is yet another commodity prohibited in space due to its perishable nature. Milk would spoil within a few hours in the zero-gravity environment, which would be harmful for health if not refrigerated. Astronauts use powdered or ultra-pasteurized milk instead, which has a much longer shelf life.
At the center of most galaxies is one of the strangest and deadliest things in the universe: a black hole. Most black holes, regardless of their size, are born when a giant star runs out of energy. The star implodes, and its center collapses under its own weight. This causes an explosion called a supernova.
In 1 sextillion years (10²¹ years), the universe will be a vastly different, dark place: the era of star formation will have ended, all stars will have burned out into white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes, planets will be cold and lifeless, and even protons might begin to decay, leading towards the "Big Freeze" or heat death, with only black holes slowly evaporating via Hawking radiation over unimaginable timescales. All familiar structures, including galaxies, will have long dissolved as the universe expands, leaving behind a cold, dark, and nearly empty expanse.
Adaptation to microgravity during space flights imposes significant challenges on the physiological, physical, and psychological well-being of astronauts. Pain has been frequently reported by astronauts during space missions, immediately after returning to Earth, and even in the years following their flights.
Sunlight reaches Earth's atmosphere and is scattered in all directions by all the gases and particles in the air. Blue light is scattered more than the other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves.
Because astronauts like the ones on the International Space Station (ISS) are moving so quickly, they're also aging a bit more slowly than the rest of us. Due to a principle of physics known as time dilation, after a six-month stint on the ISS, returning astronauts are just a tiny bit younger than the rest of us.