Astronaut, Cosmonaut, Spationaut or Taikonaut?

New We have all heard of astronauts, and many have heard of cosmonauts but what on earth (or in space) are taikonauts and spationauts? In practical terms, there is no real difference, but let us take a look at each a little more closely.

There are however some differences in who can become a space traveller, depending on where you come from.

For instance, to be an astronaut you cannot be over the age of 40. Applicants also need to have a Bachelors degree in science and they have to have graduated from test pilot school in the US military, with at least 1500 hours of recorded flight time. Additionally, astronauts have to be 5’11 or under.

Cosmonauts on the other hand need a minimum of 900 hours of flight time, graduated from the Soviet Air Force and cannot be taller than 5'7. Most cosmonauts are military officers that have been selected from the Russian Air Force, RSC Energiya and IMBP. Cosmonauts cannot be older than 30 years of age.

The most commonly used word from the list is astronaut, which comes from the Greek for ‘Star Sailor’. Why the other names if Star Sailor is so fitting, and what do they mean?

What is in a name? What do you call a space traveller?

Firstly, an astronaut is any person that is formally trained by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) to travel to and carry out various tasks in space. An astronaut does not need to be an American to be called an astronaut, they just need to have been trained by NASA to have that title.

Over in Russia, the name космонавт is used, in English, this translates to cosmonaut. This word also combines Greek words. In this case the words 'kosmos' (universe) and nautis (sailor). So you see, an astronaut is essentially the same as a cosmonaut – they just derive from two different Greek words.

The French and Chinese also have their own names for the space travellers that they train. In China, you would be called a taikonaut. 'Taiko' comes from 'tàikōng' which translates into great emptiness, or 'space'. If you are trained in China you may also be called 'yuháng yuán', or 'universe navigator'.

If trained in France then a space traveller would be called a spationaut. ‘Spatio’ comes from the Latin word ‘spatium’ which translates into English as ‘space’.

As you can see, the four different terms mean essentially the same thing – each country has just taken a slightly different approach to naming.

Astronauts, cosmonauts and taikonauts – the space pioneers

So far only the United States, China and Russia (the USSR at first) have sent spacecraft into space that had people on board. Others have assisted in these endeavours by sending their own space travellers of course, and from all over the world including the United Kingdom.

The big question is ‘who did it first?’. In terms of getting the first person into space, that title belongs to the USSR (now simply Russia).

Well, the first person in space was Russia's Yuri Gagarin on the 12^th of April, 1961. Two years after this, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space and she orbited the earth for around three days.

Over to the Americans for the first astronaut in space – Alan Shepard. Shepard made a sub-orbital flight lasting 15 minutes.

The long way around

As you can see, there is no real difference between astronaut, cosmonaut, taikonaut and spationaut – it all just depends on where the space traveller was trained and the qualifications required.

Whichever term you use, there is no denying the incredible feats it takes to travel in space.

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