NASA

SpaceX

This astronaut visited the International Space Station.

ISS Visitor

This astronaut crossed the Kármán Line (100 km), the internationally accepted boundary of space.

Crossed Kármán Line

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

Shannon Walker began her NASA career as a flight controller at Johnson Space Center, supporting shuttle missions before moving to the International Space Station Program Office, where she helped develop and integrate hardware for the space station. Selected as an astronaut in 2004, she held multiple leadership roles in the Astronaut Office, including serving as a crew support astronaut, capsule communicator, and branch leader for space station and Soyuz operations. She also led the NEEMO 15 underwater mission. Walker flew her first space mission in 2010 aboard the Soyuz TMA19, spending 163 days in space as part of Expedition 24 and 25 and becoming the first crew to dock with the Rassvet module. In 2020, she flew on SpaceX Crew1, the first operational crewed Dragon flight, becoming the first woman to fly aboard a Dragon spacecraft. She spent 167 days on the station during Expedition 64 and 65, and briefly served as commander of Expedition 65. Later, as deputy chief of the Astronaut Office, she oversaw the training and graduation of the 2021 astronaut class. A native of Houston and a graduate of Rice University with degrees in physics and space physics, Walker retired from NASA on July 10, concluding a remarkable 38 year career that included more than 21 years as an astronaut and 330 total days in space. Courtesy of NASA.

SpaceX Crew-1

Crew-1 was SpaceX's first operational crew rotation mission to the ISS. The vehicle carried three Americans and one Japanese astronaut to the Station. This was the first time an international astronaut flew on a US spacecraft since Shuttle Endeavour (STS-134) in May 2011.

Crew Dragon is the first privately built and operated orbital spacecraft capable of flying humans. As a reusable SpaceX capsule, it transports crew members to and from the International Space Station. It will also carry paying customers to the Station and low Earth orbit. While it typically accommodates a crew of four, this number can vary depending on the mission.

Crew Dragon

Soyuz TMA-19

Soyuz TMA-19 ferried three members of the Expedition 24 crew to the International Space Station.

Soyuz is a human-carrying capsule built and operated by Russia, capable of transporting up to three people to the Space Station at a time. It has been upgraded numerous times since its first use in the 1960s for the Soviet lunar program and was the only crewed vehicle for the Station from 2011 to 2020.

Soyuz

Shannon Walker

United States of America

Roscosmos

This astronaut is in the top 5% for total spacewalking time.

Elite Spacewalker

This astronaut is in the top 5% for total time in space.

Elite Spaceflyer

This astronaut is in the top 5% for number of space walks.

Frequent Walker

STS-112 (Atlantis)

Atlantis' crew delivered the S1 truss to the International Space Station. A piece of foam broke off the External Tank during launch and damaged a part of one of the Shuttle's Solid Rocket Boosters, foreshadowing the Columbia accident two missions later. NASA managers decided it was safe to keep flying.

The first reusable launch and landing spacecraft, the Space Shuttle began a new chapter of human space exploration. It launched like a rocket but landed on a runway like a plane. Shuttle crews deployed dozens of commercial satellites and two interplanetary probes to Venus and Jupiter. The Shuttle served as a mini space station and hosted hundreds of biomedical, psychological, physiological, materials science, and physics experiments that have directly benefited life on Earth. The five flight-worthy Shuttles -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour -- flew 135 missions over 30 years. The Shuttles helped construct the Russian Mir space station and brought nearly 80% of the International Space Station to orbit. Shuttles also deployed and serviced the Hubble Space Telescope.

Space Shuttle

Soyuz TMA-10

Soyuz TMA-10 ferried part of the Expedition 15 crew to and from the International Space Station. Space Tourist Simonyi joined for a short duration mission, returning to Earth on Soyuz TMA-9. During reentry, the Service Module failed to fully separate from the Descent Module, triggering a harsh, steep reentry and landing. Investigators misidentified the cause of the failure, leading it to reoccur on Soyuz TMA-11.

Soyuz TMA-09M

Soyuz TMA-09M ferried three members of the Expedition 36 crew to the International Space Station.

Soyuz MS-04

Soyuz MS-04 took two members of the Expedition 51 crew to the International Space Station. Peggy Whitson, who launched on Soyuz MS-03, returned to Earth on this mission.

Fyodor Yurchikhin

Russia

NASDA

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Soyuz TMA-17

Soyuz TMA-17 ferried three members of the Expedition 22 crew to the International Space Station.

STS-114 (Discovery)

Japan

Australia

STS-114 was the first of two Return to Flight missions following the STS-107 Columbia disaster and the second time Space Shuttle Discovery was used for a Return to Flight mission, the first being STS-26 after the Challenger accident. Coincidentally, STS-114 launched at the exact same local time, 10:39:00 a.m. Eastern, as Columbia had on STS-107. It was also the second Shuttle flight commanded by a woman, Eileen Collins, who had previously commanded STS-93. During the mission, Discovery’s crew resupplied the International Space Station, tested new safety upgrades and procedures, and conducted the first ever in space repair of a Shuttle's heat shield. However, a large foam shedding event during launch showed that NASA had not fully resolved the issue that led to Columbia’s loss. As a result, the Shuttle fleet was grounded again. Further delays followed after Hurricane Katrina damaged NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where External Tanks were built, resulting in a yearlong pause in Shuttle flights until STS-121 in July 2006.

Sôichi Noguchi

STS-120 (Discovery)

Discovery's crew delivered the Harmony connection module to the International Space Station where the European and Japanese modules would later be attached, relocated the P6 solar array and battery truss, performed emergency solar array surgery (with charged current still flowing through the arrays), and rotated a U.S. ISS crewmember. Coincidentally, this mission became the first time two spacecraft (Space Shuttle and ISS) were simultaneously commanded by women, with Pam Melroy commanding Shuttle Discovery and Peggy Whitson commanding the ISS. This flight marked the third and last time a Space Shuttle mission was commanded by a woman.

Douglas H. Wheelock

Soyuz TMA-10M

Soyuz TMA-10M ferried three members of the Expedition 37 crew to the International Space Station.

Michael S. Hopkins

This astronaut became one of four astronauts who have journeyed farthest from Earth.

Journeyed Farthest from Earth

This astronaut became the first person of color to fly around the Moon.

First Person of Color Around the Moon

Moon Flyer

Canadian Space Agency (CSA)

European Space Agency (ESA)

Northrop Grumman

United Launch Alliance (ULA)

Boeing

Lockheed Martin

Artemis II

Canada

European Union

NASA launched four astronauts on a 10-day lunar flyby mission. Artemis II tested the Orion spacecraft’s life-support systems and validated the capabilities and techniques needed for humans to live and work in deep space.  

The Orion spacecraft is NASA’s advanced crew vehicle designed for deep space missions beyond low Earth orbit. As a reusable capsule, it will carry astronauts to the Moon, Mars, and other destinations, providing life support and safe re-entry. Orion typically accommodates a crew of four but can be configured for different mission needs. It is a central part of NASA’s Artemis program, aiming to return humans to the lunar surface and expand exploration into the solar system.

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