The criteria for determining who has achieved human spaceflight vary. The (FAI) defines spaceflight as any flight over , while in the United States, professional, military and commercial astronauts who travel above an altitude of are awarded astronaut wings. The majority of people who have flown into space have done so by entering Earth orbit. This list includes people meeting all three criteria, in separate subdivisions.
The flags indicate the space traveler's nationality at the time of their flight. In cases of dual citizenship, the space traveler is listed under their primary residence. A secondary list appended to the entry for the Soviet Union shows the birth countries of space travelers not born in Russia. A similar list after the entry for the United States shows the birth countries of space travelers who were citizens of the US but were born elsewhere. Flags shown in the secondary lists are those in use at the time of the space travelers' birth.
Names in italic are space travelers who are not part of any national astronaut program or astronaut corps (Toyohiro Akiyama, Helen Sharman, the Space Adventures customers and the sub-orbital SpaceShipOne and Blue Origin pilots).
Statistics
, people from 44 countries have traveled in space. 570 have reached the altitude of space according to the FAI definition of the boundary of space, and 656 people have reached the altitude of space according to the USAF definition and 606 people have reached Earth orbit. 24 people have traveled beyond low Earth orbit and either circled, orbited, or walked on the Moon.
Of the 44 countries whose citizens have traveled into Earth orbit, 25 have flown a single space traveler, and four others (Belgium, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) have flown two each. 94% of all space travelers have been contributed by the following eight nations:
1 Includes 70 ♂ and 2 ♀️ Soviet cosmonauts. 2 Includes both national space programme activity and European Space Agency participation. 3 Includes astronauts from the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.
Suborbital space fliers
Fliers marked with an asterisk flew into the upper atmosphere between , which counts as space flight by United States guidelines. Those without flew above , which counts as a space flight by guidelines.
Antigua and Barbuda
Keisha Schahaff* — Galactic 02 (2023) Anastatia Mayers* — Galactic 02 (2023)
Australia
Chris Boshuizen — Blue Origin NS-18 (2021)
Brazil
Victor Correa Hespanha — Blue Origin NS-21 (2022)
Canada
William Shatner — Blue Origin NS-18, oldest person in space (2021)
Egypt
Sara Sabry — Blue Origin NS-22 (2022)
Italy
Nicola Pecile* — Galactic 01 (2023), Galactic 03 (2023) Pantaleone Carlucci* — Galactic 01 (2023) Walter Villadei* — Galactic 01 (2023) Angelo Landolfi* — Galactic 01 (2023)
Pakistan
Namira Salim — Galactic 04 (2023)
Portugal
Mário Ferreira — Blue Origin NS-22 (2022)
South Africa
Timothy Nash* — Galactic 03 (2023)
The Netherlands
Oliver Daemen — Blue Origin NS-16 (2021)
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
The Soviet Union never launched a spaceflight intended as suborbital. The following people were launched aboard Soyuz 7K-T No.39 (also Soyuz 18a), which was intended as orbital, but aborted before reaching orbit. Vasily Lazarev (1928–1990) — Soyuz 18a (1975); also orbited aboard Soyuz 12 (1973) Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov (1933–2003) — Soyuz 18a (1975); also orbited aboard Soyuz 12 (1973), Soyuz 27 (1978), Soyuz 26 (1978) and Soyuz T-3 (1980)
