14 Most Famous Astronauts Ever

14 Most Famous Astronauts Ever Before we get started, let's take a quick look at one of our viewers' comments. ButtonMasher50 had this to say, Great video as always. Thanks! You're welcome, ButtonMasher50. And thanks for commenting. Don't forget to subscribe. Now back to our video. Number 14, Jim Lovell Jim Lovell is most famous for saying the line, Houston, we've had a problem here. And was portrayed by Tom Hanks in the 1995 movie Apollo 13. For being someone who's flown to the moon twice, he never actually got to touch down on its surface. You heard that right. Both of his missions to the moon ended while en route, and had to make a return to Earth. The Apollo 13 mission, of which he was captain of, was one of them that was sadly left unaccomplished. Number 13, Alexei Leonov This Soviet cosmonaut became famous for being the first person to ever exit a spacecraft to take a spacewalk. Leonov was of course tethered to the Voskhod 2 spacecraft. Otherwise, he would have drifted off into the cold lifeless abyss. And stayed out there floating for a good 12 minutes. During this time, he ended up making a short motion picture, and practiced some free falling techniques. When he tried to return inside, he was unable to do so because his suit had become over pressurized and couldn't fit. So he had to release the excess air. Number 12, Valery Polyakov In his entire astronautical career, Valery Polyakov managed to spend a total of 678 days floating in space. His first 240 days were spent as a researcher aboard the Soyuz TM-6, where he was researching how microgravity affects the human body. His next mission was spent on the Soyuz TM-18, where he carried out physiological and medical research as a doctor-cosmonaut for a grand total of 437 days straight. He succeeded in revolving around the Earth 7,075 times for a total of 186,887,000 miles altogether. Number 11, Laika the Dog The tale of Laika the Dog is truly a tragic one and shows that animals are living beings that are entitled to basic rights. As part of the Soviet Union space program, Laika was saved from the streets and sent into training with two other dogs as part of an experiment to see how living organisms function in space. She was sent up knowing that there would be no way to bring her back to Earth as the technology had not existed. Laika spent her final moments alone in space and perished due to overheating when the aircraft reached 104 degrees Fahrenheit or 40 degrees Celsius. Number 10, Ham the Chimp Unlike Laika, Ham the Chimp here was successfully brought back to Earth from his mission. He became the first hominid to enter space in January of 1961 and his flight only lasted 16 minutes and 39 seconds long. The poor little guy did suffer from a bruised nose upon re-entry. Fun fact, Ham's name is actually an acronym for the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center in which he was named after, but he only received his new name after he came back from his mission. He was previously known as number 65. Number 9, Sally Ride Sally Ride became the first American woman to travel to space back in 1983 and the third woman to do so overall after both Soviet Union cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova and Svetlana Savitskaya. Ride also holds the record of being the youngest American astronaut to ever enter into space at the age of 32 years old. Not only an astronaut, she was also a physicist who went on to teach at Stanford University and later at the University of California, San Diego after she left NASA in 1987. Number 8, Alan B. Shepard Astronaut Alan B. Shepard would end up becoming the first American to ever enter space after NASA chose him to do so over fellow astronauts John Glenn and Gus Grissom. Not only that, but Shepard would also go on to pilot the Apollo 14 mission become the fifth person to ever walk on the moon as well as the only person to ever play golf on the moon. He was also one of the Mercury 7 astronauts and held the rank of rear admiral. Number 7, Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin became the second man to walk on the moon just shortly after fellow astronaut and flight commander of the Apollo 11 mission Neil Armstrong made those first few famous footsteps. The pair ended up staying on the moon for exactly 21 hours and returned to Earth with a 46-pound haul of moon rocks. Upon his return, Aldrin was bestowed with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He's also made several TV and film appearances as well. Number 6, Krista McAuliffe Krista McAuliffe was chosen for the NASA teacher in space project where she would travel to space to teach two lessons and carry out experiments. Sadly, on the morning of January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger that was carrying her and the other six members broke apart just 73 seconds after launch. Though not technically classified as an astronaut, Krista McAuliffe did complete her training and will therefore be honored as such. She would later be awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor posthumously. Number 5, Tim Peake Tim Peake was a British Air Corps officer who served the army for 17 years before he left to pursue being an astronaut. He eventually would be picked as a candidate for European Space Agency's new training program out of 9,000 other possible applicants. He would go on to serve atop of the ISS or International Space Station for six months returning on June 18, 2016. In the following image, you can see the spacecraft that safely brought him back. Number 4, Valentina Tereshkova Tereshkova became the first woman ever to be flown into space by the Soviet Union when she was just a mere 26 years old in June of 1963. When she reached orbit, she said, It is I, Seagull, which is how she became known as Seagull by people all over the world who heard her voice being broadcasted. Her three-day stint was sadly only a political stunt that was used to upstage America and no other women were allowed into space for almost 20 years later. Number 3, Neil Armstrong This is most likely if not the most famous astronaut that people know of as you're taught his story during your earliest years of education. Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human being to ever walk on the moon on the day of July 12, 1969 and gave his famous line, That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Armstrong wasn't always an astronaut. Did you know that he actually served in the Korean War and earned the Korean Service Medal? Number 2, John Glenn It was back in 1962 that John Glenn would become the first American in the entire world to orbit the planet Earth and solidify his place in the history books. After his safe return to Earth, Glenn was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal by John F. Kennedy and they would later become close friends. Glenn would eventually go on to serve 24 years in the U.S. Senate. He was recently portrayed in the 2016 movie Hidden Figures by actor Glenn Powell. Before we reveal number 1, let us know in the comments below which one of these astronauts you found the most interesting and don't forget to subscribe. And now, number 1, Yuri Gagarin If you don't know who Yuri Gagarin is, then it's rather a shame considering the Soviet cosmonaut is the first human being to ever enter into the black void that is space while simultaneously being the first person to orbit the Earth. This sparked a huge leap in the space race between the United States and Russia during the Cold War. Gagarin is celebrated as the most decorated astronaut of all time because of all the honors that he received when he returned.