NASA

SpaceX

This astronaut crossed the Kármán Line (100 km), the internationally accepted boundary of space.

Crossed Kármán Line

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

This astronaut visited the International Space Station.

Station Visitor

Matthew Dominick was selected by NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class. He reported for duty in August 2017. The Colorado native earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of San Diego and a Master of Science degree in in Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. He graduated from U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. He has more than 1,600 hours of flight time in 28 aircraft, 400 carrier-arrested landings, and 61 combat missions. Matthew Dominick is training for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station. He’ll serve as commander for the mission launching in early 2024. Caption courtesy of NASA.

SpaceX Crew-8

SpaceX flew NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station aboard Dragon.

Crew Dragon is the first privately built and operated orbital spacecraft capable of flying humans. As a reusable SpaceX capsule, it transports crew members to and from the International Space Station. It will also carry paying customers to the Station and low Earth orbit. While it typically accommodates a crew of four, this number can vary depending on the mission.

Crew Dragon

Matthew Dominick

United States of America

ISS Visitor

This astronaut is in the top 5% for total time in space.

Elite Spaceflyer

Roscosmos

Russia

Soyuz TMA-14

Soyuz TMA-14 ferried part of the Expedition 19 crew to and from the International Space Station. Space Tourist Simonyi joined for a short duration mission, returning to Earth on Soyuz TMA-13.

Soyuz is a human-carrying capsule built and operated by Russia, capable of transporting up to three people to the Space Station at a time. It has been upgraded numerous times since its first use in the 1960s for the Soviet lunar program and was the only crewed vehicle for the Station from 2011 to 2020.

Soyuz

STS-133 (Discovery)

The 39th and final flight of Space Shuttle Discovery. The six-person (human) crew delivered to the International Space Station: NASA's final module, Leonardo; 3,735 kg of external equipment and spares; and the humanoid robotic ISScrewmember, Rorbonaut2. Discovery also performed the final hardware and software test of SpaceX's DragonEye sensors for the cargo Dragon resupply capsule. Upon landing, Discovery became the first Space Shuttle to retire from service, having traveled 238,539,663 km over a total of 365 days (one full year) in space. She carried 252 total crewmembers over a 27-year career, making Discovery the current spacecraft to have carried the most people to space.

The first reusable launch and landing spacecraft, the Space Shuttle began a new chapter of human space exploration. It launched like a rocket but landed on a runway like a plane. Shuttle crews deployed dozens of commercial satellites and two interplanetary probes to Venus and Jupiter. The Shuttle served as a mini space station and hosted hundreds of biomedical, psychological, physiological, materials science, and physics experiments that have directly benefited life on Earth. The five flight-worthy Shuttles -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour -- flew 135 missions over 30 years. The Shuttles helped construct the Russian Mir space station and brought nearly 80% of the International Space Station to orbit. Shuttles also deployed and serviced the Hubble Space Telescope.

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