In 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to successfully enter space. This started a space war between the USSR and the United States which indirectly spurred the development of computer, rocket, science, aerospace and semiconductor technology. Yesterday a new world record for the number of astronauts around the earth simultaneously was set after three more astronauts were sent to the ISS using the Soyuz spacecraft.
At this point, there are 19 astronauts orbiting the earth simultaneously, surpassing the record of 17 simultaneous astronauts recorded last year. Don Pettit, Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner are currently on their way to the ISS in a Soyuz spacecraft.
Nine other astronauts – Michael Barratt, Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Barry Wilmore, Suni Williams, Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin and Oleg Kononenko – are currently on the International Space Station (ISS). Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams were due to return to earth three months ago but problems with the Starliner spacecraft forced their mission to be extended until February next year.
Meanwhile, three Chinese taikonauts – Li Cong, Li Guangsu and Ye Guangfu are currently on the Tiangong Space Station. Finally, four SpaceX astronauts - Jared Isaacman, Scott Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon are now aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft for the Polaris Dawn mission. Polaris Dawn aims to be the first private mission to perform extravehicular activity (EVA).