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Definition: astronaut from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary

pronunciationpronunciation

(1929) : a person who travels beyond the earth's atmosphere; also : a trainee for spaceflight

astronaut

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
crew member on a U.S. manned spaceflight mission; the Soviet term is cosmonaut. Candidates for manned spaceflight are carefully screened to meet the highest physical and mental standards, and they undergo rigorous training. The early astronauts had all previously been test pilots, but later astronauts have included scientists and physicians, journalists, and politicians. As far as is possible, all conditions to be encountered in space are simulated in ground training. Astronauts are trained to function effectively in cramped quarters while wearing restrictive spacesuits; they are accelerated in giant centrifuges to test their reactions to the inertial forces experienced during liftoff; they are prepared for the physiological disorientation they will experience in space arising from weightlessness ; and they spend long periods in isolation chambers to test their psychological reactions to solitude. Using trainers and mock-ups of actual spacecraft, astronauts rehearse every maneuver from…
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Full text Article astronaut

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Person trained to make flights into space; the general term is often used to include cosmonauts (the Russian equivalent). As of April 2006, NASA had selected only 321 astronauts. Potential astronauts apply to the Astronaut Candidate Program and receive appointments from the Astronaut Selection…
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Full text Article ASTRONAUT

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969, A.D. WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND. Plaque left behind on the moon's surface . American astronaut Bob, this is Gene, and I'm on the surface; and, as I take man's last step from the surface, back home for some time to come – …
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Full text Article astronaut

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
crew member on a U.S. manned spaceflight mission; the Soviet term is cosmonaut. Candidates for manned spaceflight are carefully screened to meet the highest physical and mental standards, and they undergo rigorous training. The early astronauts had all previously been test pilots, but later…
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Full text Article astronaut

From Philip's Encyclopedia
Astronauts on NASA's shuttle use spacesuits (1)...
(Rus. cosmonaut ) Person who navigates or rides in a space vehicle. The first man to orbit the Earth was the Russian Yuri Gagarin in 1961. The first man to walk on the Moon was the American Neil Armstrong in 1969. The first woman in space was the Russian Valentina Tereshkova in 1963. …
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Full text Article ancient astronauts

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
A name given to hypothetical beings from outer space who it is suggested visited the earth and interacted with ancient peoples. The theory that ancient astronauts visited the earth in our distant past is widely attributed to German writer erich von däniken . He has certainly popularized the idea, …
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Full text Article astronaut

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Person trained to pilot a spacecraft , operate any of its systems, or conduct research aboard it during spaceflights. The term commonly refers to those participating in U.S. space missions; cosmonaut is the Russian equivalent, and taikonaut is the Chinese equivalent. Astronauts undergo an intense…
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Full text Article ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS IN THE UFO LITERATURE

From Cultural Studies: The UFO Encyclopedia
The ancient-astronaut craze of the late 1960s and early 1970s brought to a wide world public an idea first raised five decades earlier, in a UFO book written in 1919, when “UFOs” and “flying saucers” were words and concepts yet to be born. The volume was Charles Fort ’s The Book of the Damned , and…
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Full text Article International Astronautical Federation (IAF)

From Science Encyclopedia: Encyclopedia of Space and Astronomy
Founded in 1951, the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) provides a global forum for the exchange of information on and the promotion of space activities. Each year the IAF organizes an International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in cooperation with the International Academy of Astronautics…
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Full text Article astronautic

From The Macquarie Dictionary
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Full text Article astronaut

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
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