Astronauts in space ()

On the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts from all over the world work together on science experiments. People from 23 different countries have been to the ISS.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is made up of 22 countries. This year, there were new astronauts from France, Spain, the UK and Belgium. There was also a graduate from Australia. She is their first astronaut.

In 2008, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) sent its first mission into space. Their spacecraft have now been to the moon, Mars and one is orbiting the sun right now.

America’s space agency is called the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. The United States has the record for sending the most people, 379, into space.

The Tiangong Space Station (TSS) was constructed by China and orbits the Earth like the ISS. Chinese astronauts are called taikonauts.

Russian cosmonaut, Oleg Kononenko, has been in space for over 1000 days, the longest of any person. He is still at the ISS now!