What is an Astronaut?
An astronaut is someone who is trained to operate or work aboard spacecraft. Many astronauts work for government-sponsored space programs, although in the early 21st century, private firms began working in space as well. Astronauts are often figures of awe and admiration in their communities, and this adulation is well deserved; astronauts endure grueling schedules and training programs for years before they are even allowed to go into space. They are also at the peak of physical fitness, and most astronauts are extremely intelligent. Manned spaceflight began in Russia in 1961, when Yuri Gagarin was blasted in orbit by the Soviet space program. The United States quickly followed suit, and these two nations have dominated spaceflight historically, although citizens of numerous other countries have been into space as well. International cooperation between national space programs resulted in the foundation of the International Space Station in 1998. Russian astronauts are known as cosmon
An astronaut is a person trained to command or pilot a spacecraft or serve as a crewmember during a space mission. The criteria for the definition of a spaceflight vary; for example, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (World Air Sports Federation) defines it as any flight reaching 100 km altitude. Is there a centre in Europe for training European astronauts? Yes, it is the European Astronaut Centre (EAC), ESA’s centre in Cologne, Germany. What is the typical role of an ESA Astronaut in a crew? European astronauts will continue to make long-duration flights aboard the ISS, carrying out experiments and operating the Station’s systems. They will assemble, activate and check out new Station elements, undertake scientific research and even act as test subjects in life sciences experiments. What do the astronauts do when they are not training for a flight? They provide technical support to spaceflight programmes, maintain their proficiency and contribute to public relations, to expla
Astronauts are people who live and work in space. They undergo years of training before the actually go into space. The work they do is very important to scientists because it helps us understand more about space. Their work is very difficult and dangerous. That is why there is such an exacting process for astronaut candidate selection. Out of thousands of people who apply, only a few will be called back for a year of training as an astronaut candidate. Since the training is so rigorous, even more of them will drop out before their training is over. The ones who survive this go on for up to 8 more years of advanced training brfore they finally get into space. You can imagine that astronauts must be very determined and talented people. That is the whole point of the training program: to weed out all but the best. Read on to find out more about the training and selection of astronauts.
