List of female astronauts
The following is a list of women who have traveled into space, sorted by date of first flight. This list includes Russian cosmonauts, who were the first women in outer space travelers. Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to go to space in 1963, very early in crewed space exploration, and it would be almost twenty years before another flew (Svetlana Savitskaya).
Female astronauts went on to become commonplace in the 1980s and beyond. By 2019, roughly 12% of all the space travelers were women. As of April 2022, there were 73 women with completed spaceflights.
History[]
As of August 2022, of the 621 total space travelers (FAI),[1] 70 have been women. There have been one each from France, Italy, South Korea, and the United Kingdom; two each from Canada, China, and Japan; five from the Soviet Union/Russia; and 55 from the United States.[2] The time between the first male and first female astronauts varied widely by country. The first astronauts originally from Britain, South Korea, and Iran were women, while there was a two-year gap in Russia from the first man in space on Vostok 1 to the first woman in space on Vostok 6. The time between the first American man and first American woman in space was 22 years between Freedom 7 and STS-7, respectively. For China, this interval was almost eight and a half years between the Shenzhou 5 and Shenzhou 9 space missions,[3] and for Italy, there was approximately twelve years between the STS-46 and Expedition 42 spaceflights.
A span of 19 years separated the first and second women in space. They were cosmonauts on the Vostok 6 and Soyuz T-7 missions. Though the Soviet Union sent the first two women into space, only five of the women in space have been Russian or Soviet citizens. However, British, French, Italian, dual-citizen Iranian-American and South Korean women have all flown as part of the Soviet and Russian space programs. Similarly, women from Canada, Japan, and America have all flown under the US space program. A span of one year separated the first and second American women in space, as well as the first and second Chinese women in space, taking place on consecutive missions, Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10.
Spacefarers with completed spaceflights[]
Other astronauts and astronaut candidates[]
# | Image | Name | Birth date Death date |
Country | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jeanette J. Epps | Nov. 2, 1970 | United States | NASA Astronaut Group 20, "The Chumps", 2009. Epps had been selected for Expedition 56, set to travel by Soyuz MS-09 to the International Space Station in May 2018, but on January 16, 2018, NASA announced that Epps had been replaced by her backup Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor. Currently set to travel on Boeing Starliner-1. | |
2 | Patricia Robertson | Mar. 12, 1963 Died May 24, 2001 |
United States | NASA Astronaut Group 17, "The Penguins", 1998 | |
3 | Nadezhda Kuzhelnaya | Nov. 6, 1962 | Russia | Retired May 27, 2004 | |
4 | Marianne Merchez | Nov. 25, 1960 | Belgium | Retired 1995 | |
5 | Yvonne Cagle | Apr. 24, 1959 | United States | Retired with the rank of Colonel in 2008.[21] | |
6 | Christa McAuliffe | September 2, 1948 died Jan. 28, 1986 |
United States | Part of the Teacher in Space Project. Would be the first private citizen in space. Died on the Challenger, January 28, 1986. Mission launched, but did not cross the Kármán line. The crew cabin peaked approx. 70,000 ft (above the Armstrong limit) | |
7 | Tatyana Kuznetsova | Jul. 14, 1941 died Aug. 23, 2018 |
Soviet Union | Retired 1969 | |
8 | Zhanna Yorkina | May 6, 1939 died May 25, 2015 |
Soviet Union | Retired 1969 | |
9 | Irina Solovyova | Sep. 6, 1937 | Soviet Union | Retired 1969 | |
10 | Valentina Ponomaryova | Sep. 18, 1933 | Soviet Union | Retired 1969 | |
11 | Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons | August 3, 1988 | Canada | 2017 CSA Group | |
12 | Zena Cardman | October 26, 1987 | United States | NASA Astronaut Group 22, "The Turtles", 2017 | |
13 | Jasmin Moghbeli | June 24, 1983 | United States | NASA Astronaut Group 22, "The Turtles", 2017 | |
14 | Loral O'Hara | May 3, 1983 | United States | NASA Astronaut Group 22, "The Turtles", 2017 | |
15 | Nora Al Matrooshi | 1993 | United Arab Emirates | Emirati Astronaut Group 2 | |
16 | Johanna Maislinger | 1985 | Austria | Spaceflight participant candidate | |
17 | Yumi Matsutoya | 1954 | Japan | Singer. Spaceflight participant candidate to travel on Soyuz MS-20. | |
18 | Pratiwi Sudarmono | July 31, 1952 | Indonesia | Was initially selected for STS-61-H mission. Cancelled after Challenger disaster. Retired. |
See also[]
- Chinese women in space
- Mercury 13—the Women in Space Program (WISP)
- List of space travelers by name—all people who have flown in Space
- List of space travelers by nationality
- List of astronauts by name—people trained to serve as spaceflight crew
References[]
- ^ "Astronaut/Cosmonaut Statistics". World Space Flight. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
- ^ "Astronaut/Cosmonaut Statistics - More". World Space Flight. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
- ^ "Women in Space: Timeline of Achievements and Events".
- ^ "NASA - First Mother in Space, Mars Team to Be at NASA Langley Open House". www.nasa.gov.
- ^ "Astronaut/Cosmonaut Statistics". www.worldspaceflight.com. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
- ^ Spacefacts (2017). "Astronauts and Cosmonauts with EVA Experience (sorted by "EVA Time")". Spacefacts. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c NASA (2009). "Sunita L. Williams (Commander, USN)". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
- ^ "Astronaut Tracy Caldwell & "Officer Phil" Konstantin's KUSI TV 9/51 Page". americanindian.net.
- ^ "Privyet, Elena Serova! Space Station Welcomes Its First Russian Woman". NBC News. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
- ^ "Virgin Galactic Makes Space for Second Time In Ten Weeks with Three On Board, Reaching Higher Altitudes and Faster Speeds, as Flight Test Program Continues". Virgin Galactic. 22 February 2019.
- ^ "NASA Astronauts Make History with 1st All-Woman Spacewalk". Space. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
- ^ Northon, Karen (2020-02-06). "Record-Setting NASA Astronaut, Crewmates Return from Space Station". NASA. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
- ^ Pearlman 2019-12-29T00:29:47Z, Robert Z. (29 December 2019). "Astronaut Christina Koch Breaks Record for Longest Space Mission by a Woman". Space.com. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
- ^ Chang, Kenneth (2021-07-11). "Who were the crew members aboard the flight?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
- ^ "NASA astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann will be the first Native American woman to travel to space". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
- ^ Stallard, Esme (August 18, 2022). "First Native American woman to travel to space". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
- ^ Amos, Jonathan; Stallard, Esme (October 5, 2022). "Nicole Mann: Astronaut becomes first Native American woman in space". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
- ^ Bennett-Begaye, Jourdan (August 10, 2022). "First Native woman in space". Indian Country Today. IndiJ Public Media. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
- ^ Bennett-Begaye, Jourdan (October 5, 2022). "First Indigenous woman launching into space". Indian Country Today. IndiJ Public Media. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
- ^ Bennett-Begaye, Jourdan (October 5, 2022). "First Indigenous woman launches into space aboard SpaceX". APTN News. APTN. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
- ^ Mars, Kelli (2015-02-11). "Johnson Space Center Home". NASA. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
- Women astronauts
- Lists of astronauts
- Lists of women by occupation
- Women in space
- Feminism-related lists