Friday, November 11, 2011



The entire human population that has ever lived on Earth is estimated at 107,602,707,791 (approaching 108 billion). Thus far, 522 humans have traveled off the planet and into space.

Of these 522 people across 53 different nations, 54 were women and 468 were men.

201 space travelers from 9 nations have completed extra-vehicular activities outside of crafts, space stations or on the surface of the Moon. Of these 201 EVA performers, 9 were women and 192 were men.

Women Astronauts

First woman in space Valentina Tereshkova married the only bachelor Cosmonaut in 1963, Andrian Nikolayev. They were the first two space travelers to marry, and also the first to produce a child when their daughter Elena was born in 1964.

15 more couples married within the Astronaut Corps of America, Russia and Europe. Of those 15 couples, 4 have since divorced.

The first married American astronauts were Anna and William Fisher, who already wedded when selected by NASA in 1978. Their first child was born in 1983. When Anna flew aboard Shuttle Discovery in 1985, she became the first mother in space.

Space Map
Three travelers have become fathers during their missions. While on Space Station Mir for a week in October of 1991, Franz Viehböck welcomed a daughter named Carina; he also has the distinction of being the first Austrian in space.

While aboard the ISS, Michael Fincke became the first parent on a long-duration space mission, being in orbit for four months, then going home to meet Tara, the daughter born while he was off-Earth in 2004.

Randolph Bresnick also became a parent while in orbit on a 10-day mission, having been aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-129 when his daughter Abigail Mae was born in November 2009.

Space Tourism
For sums as high as $35 million, seven individuals have flown as "Space Tourists". Still others were generated by commercial interest, not government agencies.

The first Japanese man in space, Toyohiro Akiyama, was a commercially sponsored "Space Journalist" for the Tokyo Broadcasting System. He flew aboard Soyuz TM-11 to reach Mir in 1991, and completed as many broadcasts as he could, despite acute space sickness.

The first Briton in space was Helen Sharman, who responded to a Project Juno BBC radio advertisement asking for applicants; after beating about 13,000+ other hopefuls, she flew aboard Soyuz TM-12 to Mir in 1991, where she operated in food chemistry, and conducted both medical and agricultural experiments.