Astronaut Astronaut An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft. Although generally reserved for professional space travelers, the terms are sometimes applied to anyone who travels into space, including scientists, politicians, journalists, and tourists. Until 2002, astronauts were sponsored and trained exclusively by governments, either by the military or by civilian space agencies. With the suborbital flight of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of astronaut was created: the commercial astronaut. The criteria for what constitutes human spaceflight vary. The Fédération
Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language government of China: Nicaragua and Paraguay. Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language The Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language (TOCFL) (formerly known as the TOP or Test Of Proficiency-Huayu )() is Taiwan's Mandarin Chinese test. It is administered by the Steering Committee for the Test Of Proficiency-Huayu (SC-TOP) (). The committee is under the direction of the Ministry of Education of R.O.C. The test cannot be taken in Mainland China, Hong Kong or Macao. In these three areas, only the HSK exam can be taken. Conversely, HSK is not available on Taiwan, Kinmen or any of the territories