# The most famous cosmonauts and astronauts

The space explorers most often named in lists of the most famous cosmonauts and astronauts, and what put them in the history books.

- 1 vote · 16 items
- Jan 31, 2023 · sarcasm.lost
- https://even.best/en/l/1103/the-most-famous-cosmonauts-and-astronauts

## Top 15

1. **Yuri Gagarin** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 12 April 1961: the first human in space; his Vostok 1 flight lasted 108 minutes.
2. **Neil Armstrong** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 21 July 1969 (UTC): the first person on the Moon.
3. **Valentina Tereshkova** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 16 June 1963: the first woman in space, and the only one to fly solo.
4. **Alexei Leonov** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 18 March 1965: the first spacewalk.
5. **Buzz Aldrin** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The second person on the Moon, with Armstrong on Apollo 11.
6. **Gherman Titov** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — August 1961: the first full day in orbit; the youngest person in space, at 25.
7. **John Glenn** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 1962: the first American in orbit; flew again in 1998 at 77.
8. **Alan Shepard** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — May 1961: the first American in space; later walked on the Moon on Apollo 14.
9. **Valeri Polyakov** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The longest single spaceflight: 437 days on Mir (1994-1995).
10. **Sergei Krikalev** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — In 1991-1992 he left the USSR for orbit and came back to Russia.
11. **Svetlana Savitskaya** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 1984: the first woman to walk in space.
12. **Sally Ride** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 1983: the first American woman in space.
13. **Eugene Cernan** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The last person to walk on the Moon (December 1972, Apollo 17).
14. **Yang Liwei** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — October 2003: the first Chinese astronaut (Shenzhou 5).
15. **Dennis Tito** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2001: the first space tourist, flew to the ISS on a Soyuz.
16. **Gennady Padalka** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Five flights and 878 days in space.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.