Curiosity is perhaps one of the most important factors that triggered the development and change of human history. People have been curious about space since the earliest times of history. With the development of technology, the idea of exploring space has now started to turn into action and humanity took its first step into space in 1961. Yuri Gagarin launched into space on April 12, 1961, in the Vostok spacecraft and completed its orbit of the Earth. Thus, he succeeded in becoming the first human in space, and with this success, he started the space age in the history of humanity.
With Yuri Gagarin’s landing in space, many countries around the world accelerated/started space studies. At this point, I will not tell more about the space adventure of mankind. That is a completely different area of expertise.
Different nations gave different names to people who went into space. For example, Yuri Gagarin received the title of Cosmonaut as a Soviet. In other words, people of Soviet origin who go into space are called Cosmonauts. In addition, with the increase in space studies and the arrival of different people from many nations, different names/terms began to be used for people who went into space, although they basically mean the same thing.
Term
Meaning / Origin
Used By / Region
Official Usage
Astronaut
Greek astron (star) + nautes (sailor)
United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, etc.
Yes – NASA and most international space agencies
Cosmonaut
Russian kosmos (space) + nautes
Russia, former Soviet Union
Yes – Roscosmos
Taikonaut
Chinese tàikōng (space) + nautes
Used in English media for Chinese astronauts
No – China uses Hángtiānyuán (航天员) officially
Spationaut
French spatio (space) + nautes
France (mainly in the 1980s–90s)
No – “Astronaute” is now more common in France
Here are the commonly used terms. Let’s see if new countries will increase space studies in the coming years and will some new ones be added to these terms.
Term
Date
Person
Mission
Significance
Cosmonaut
April 12, 1961
Yuri Gagarin
Vostok 1
First human in space; completed one orbit around Earth.
Astronaut
May 5, 1961
Alan Shepard
Mercury-Redstone 3
First American in space; suborbital flight lasting 15 minutes.
Spationaut
June 24, 1982
Jean-Loup Chrétien
Soyuz T-6
First Frenchman and first Western European in space.
Taikonaut
October 15, 2003
Yang Liwei
Shenzhou 5
First Chinese person in space; orbited Earth 14 times over 21 hours.
