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List of astronauts by selection

1959

April 9 - 1959 NASA Group - Mercury Seven - USA

The first group of American astronauts was selected for the Mercury program by NASA in April 1959. This group. known as the "Mercury Seven", included: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. All seven were military test pilots, a requirement specified by President Eisenhower to simplify the selection process.

All seven of the first group of astronauts eventually flew in space, although one, Deke Slayton, did not fly a Mercury mission due to a medical disqualification. He eventually flew on the Apollo-Soyuz mission. The other six each flew one Mercury mission. For two of these, Scott Carpenter and John Glenn, the Mercury mission was their only flight in the Apollo era (Glenn later flew on the space shuttle). Three of the Mercury astronauts, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper and Wally Schirra, also each flew a mission during the Gemini program. Alan Shepard did not fly a Gemini mission due to a medical disqualification, but later did fly an Apollo mission. He was the only Mercury astronaut to go to the moon. Wally Schirra also flew on Apollo, as well as Mercury and Gemini, the only astronaut to fly on all three types of spacecraft. (Gus Grissom was scheduled to fly the first Apollo flight, but died in a fire on the launch pad during training.)

1960

March 7 - Air Force Group 1 - USSR

The initial group of Soviet cosmonauts was chosen from Air Force jet pilots. The twenty, finalised on March 7 1960 were: Ivan Anikeyev, Pavel Belyayev, Valentin Bondarenko, Valery Bykovsky, Valentin Filatyev, Yuri Gagarin, Viktor Gorbatko, Anatoli Kartashov, Yevgeny Khrunov, Vladimir Komarov, Aleksei Leonov, Grigori Nelyubov,Andrian Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich, Mars Rafikov, Georgi Shonin, Gherman Titov, Valentin Varlamov, Boris Volynov, and Yevgeni Zaikin.

1962

March 12 Female Group - USSR

On March 12 1962, a group of five civilian women with parachuting experience was added to the cosmonaut group: Tatyana Kuznetsova, Valentina Ponomaryova, Irina Solovyova, Valentina Tereshkova, and Zhanna Yerkina. Only Tereshkova would fly.

September 17, 1962 - 1962 NASA Group - USA

A second group of nine astronauts was selected by NASA in September 1962. This group included Neil Armstrong, Frank Borman, Charles Conrad, Jim McDivitt, Jim Lovell, Elliott See, Tom Stafford, Ed White and John Young. All of this group flew missions in the Gemini program except Elliott See, who died in a flight accident while preparing for his Gemini flight. All of the others also flew on Apollo, except for Ed White, who died in a fire on the launch pad during training for the first Apollo flight. Three of this group, McDivitt, Borman and Armstrong, made single flights in both Gemini and Apollo. Four others, Young, Lovell, Stafford and Conrad, each made two flights in Gemini and at least one flight in Apollo. Young and Lovell both made two Apollo flights. Conrad and Stafford also made second flights in Apollo spacecraft, Conrad in Skylab and Stafford in Apollo-Soyuz. Six of this group, Borman, Lovell, Stafford, Young, Armstrong and Conrad, made flights to the moon. Lovell and Young went to the moon twice. Armstrong, Conrad, and Young walked on the moon. John Young also later flew on the Space Shuttle.

1963

January 10 - Air Force Group 2 - USSR

Yuri Artyukhin, Eduard Buinovski, Lev Demin, Georgi Dobrovolski,Anatoli Filipchenko, Aleksei Gubarev, Vladislav Gulyayev, Pyotr Kolodin, Eduard Kugno, Anatoli Kuklin, Aleksandr Matinchenko, Vladimir Shatalov, Lev Vorobyov, Anatoli Voronov, Vitali Zholobov

October 17 1963 NASA Group - USA

Five members of the third group of astronauts, selected by NASA in October 1963, also flew missions during the Gemini program. They were Buzz Aldrin, Gene Cernan, Michael Collins, Richard Gordon and David Scott. Each flew a single Gemini mission and at least one mission in the Apollo program. Scott and Cernan both flew a second Apollo mission. All of this group went to the moon, Cernan went twice. Aldrin, Scott and Cernan walked on the moon.

During the Apollo program, (1961-1975), the United States launched a total of 31 missions carrying astronauts into space: 6 in the Mercury program, 10 in the Gemini program, 11 in the Apollo program, 3 in the Skylab program, and 1 in the Apollo-Soyuz Test program. These 31 missions provided 71 individual flight opportunities: 6 in Mercury, 20 in Gemini, 33 in Apollo, 9 in Skylab, and 3 in Apollo-Soyuz. These 71 positions were filled by 43 individuals. Of these 43, 4 flew a total of 4 flights, 3 flew a total of 3 flights, 10 flew twice, and the remaining 26 flew only once. Thus only 17 flew more than once, and only seven flew more than twice. (Several later made additional flights on the Space Shuttle.)

Of the 31 Apollo-era flights, 2 were suborbital and 9 were lunar missions. The remaining 20 were earth orbital flights. The 9 lunar flights provided 27 individual lunar flight opportunities. These were filled by 24 individuals. Only 3 people flew to the moon twice. The 6 successful lunar landing flights provided 12 individual lunar landing opportunities. These were filled by 12 individuals. No one landed on the moon twice. Of those who landed on the moon, 2 had already flown to the moon once, 5 had made previous non-lunar flights, and 5 had no previous spaceflight experience.

All 6 Mercury flights and 3 of 10 Gemini flights had all-rookie crews, as did 1 of the 3 Skylab flights. All the Apollo missions included at least 1 veteran astronaut. Only 2 flights, the lunar landing mission and its dress-rehearsal, had all-veteran crews.

1964

January 25 Air Force Group 2 Supplemental - USSR

Georgi Beregovoi

May 26 Voskhod Group (Medical Group 1) - USSR

Vladimir Benderov, Georgi Katys, Vasili Lazarev, Boris Polyakov, Aleksei Sorokin, Boris Yegorov

June 11 Civilian Specialist Group 1 - USSR

Konstantin Feoktistov

1965

June 1 - Journalist Group 1 - USSR

In 1965, three civilian journalists were selected for cosmonaut training in preparation for flight on a Voskhod mission. When the Voskhod programme was cancelled, Golovanov and Letunov were dismissed. Rebrov, on the other hand, stayed with the space programme as a journalist until 1974.

Yaroslav Golovanov, Yuri Letunov, Mikhail Rebrov

June 1 - Medical Group 2 - USSR

These physicians were selected for the long-duration Voskhod flights, all of which were subsequently cancelled to make way for the moon programme. All three were dismissed at the beginning of the following year.

Yevgeni Illyin, Aleksandr Kiselyov, Yuri Senkevich

June 28 - Scientist group - USA

Owen Garriott, Edward Gibson, Duane Graveline, Joseph Kerwin, Frank Michel, Harrison Schmitt

October 28 - Air Force Group 3 - USSR

This group of cosmonauts was selected for participation in five separate Soyuz programmes that the USSR was running. These included military programmes (with and without the Almaz/Salyut space stations) and two lunar programmes (only one of which aimed at an actual lunar landing). In the end, only the orbital programme and the space station programme went ahead, and few of the cosmonauts from this group ever were given the chance to fly.

Boris Belousov, Vladimir Degtyarov, Anatoli Fyodorov, Yuri Glazkov, Vitali Grishchenko, Veygeni Khludeyev, Leonid Kizim, Pyotr Klimuk, Gennadi Kolesnikov, Aleksandr Kramarenko, Mikhail Lisun, Aleksandr Petrushenko, Vladimir Preobrazhensky, Valeri Rozhdestvensky, Gennadi Sarafanov, Ansar Sharafutdinov, Vasili Shcheglov, Aleksandr Skvortsov, Eduard Stepanov, Valeri Voloshin, Oleg Yakovlev, Vyacheslav Zudov

1966

April 4 - 1966 NASA Group - USA

Vance Brand, John Bull, Gerald Carr, Charles Duke, Joseph Engle, Ronald Evans, Edward Givens, Fred Haise, James Irwin, Don Lind, Jack Lousma, Thomas Mattingly, Bruce McCandless, Edgar Mitchell, William Pogue, Stuart Roosa, John Swigert, Paul Weitz, Alfred Worden

May 23 - Civilian Specialist Group 2 - USSR

Sergei Anokhin, Vladimir Bugrov, Gennadi Dolgopolov, Georgi Grechko, Valeri Kubasov, Oleg Makarov, Vladislav Volkov, Aleksei Yeliseyev

June 30 - USAF MOL Group 2 - USA

Karol Bobko, Robert Crippen, Gordon Fullerton, Henry Hartsfield, Robert Overmyer, Donald Peterson

1967

January 31 - Civilian Specialist Group 2 Supplemental - USSR

Nikolai Rukavishnikov, Viatli Sevastyanov

May 7 - Air Force Group 4 - USSR

Vladimir Alekseyev, Vladimir Beloborodov, Mikhail Burdayev, Sergei Gaidukov, Vladimir Isakov, Vladimir Kovalyanok, Vladimir Kozelsky, Vladimir Lyakhov, Yuri Malyshev, Viktor Pisarev, Nikolai Porvatkin, Mikhail Sologub

May 22 - Academy of Sciences Group - USSR

Mars Fathulin, Rudolf Gulyayev, Ordinard Kolomitsev, Vsevolod Yegorov, Valentin Yershov

October 4 - Scientist group - USA

Joseph Allen, Philip Chapman, Anthony England, Karl Henize, Donald Holmquest, William Lenoir, John Llewellyn, Story Musgrave, Brian O'Leary, Robert Parker, William Thornton

1968

May 27 - Civilian Specialist Group 3 - USSR

Vladimir Fartushny, Viktor Patsayev, Valeri Yazdovsky

1969

September 10 - Civilian Engineer Group - USSR

Anatoli Demyanenko, Valeri Makrushin, Dmitri Yuyukov

1970

April 27 - Air Force Group 5 - USSR

Anatoli Berezovoi, Aleksandr Dedkov, Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Nikolai Fefelov, Valeri Illarianov, Yuri Isaulov, Vladimir Kozlov, Leonid Popov, Yuri Romanenko

1971

February 25 - 1971 Scientific Group - USSR

Gurgen Ivanyan

1972

March 22 - Civilian Specialist Group 4 - USSR

Boris Andreyev, Valentin Lebedev, Yuri Ponomaryov

March 22 - Medical Group 3 - USSR

Georgi Machinski, Valeri Polyakov, Lev Smirenny

1973

March 27 - Civilian Specialist Group 5 - USSR

Vladimir Aksyonov, Vladimir Gevorkyan, Aleksandr Ivanchenkov, Valeri Romanov, Valeri Ryumin, Gennadi Strekalov

1974

January 1 - Physician Group - USSR

Zyyadin Abuzyarov

1976

August 23 - Air Force Group 6 - USSR

Leonid Ivanov, Leonid Kadenyuk, Nikolai Moskalenko, Sergei Protchenko, Yevgeni Saley, Anatoli Solovyov, Vladimir Titov, Vladimir Vasyutin, Aleksandr Volkov

November 25 - 1976 Intercosmos Group - USSR

Miroslaw Hermaszewski, Zenon Jankowski, Sigmund Jähn, Eberhard Köllner, Oldrich Pelcak, Vladimir Remek

1978

January 16 - 1978 NASA Group - USA

Due to the long delay between the last Apollo mission and the first flight of the Space Shuttle in 1981, only few astronauts from the older groups stayed with NASA. Thus in 1978 a new group of 35 astronauts was selected after 9 years without new astronauts, including the first female astronauts, and also the first black astronaut Guion Bluford. Roughly every two years a new group was selected since then. Two different astronaut groups were formed, pilots and mission specialists. Additionally it has payload specialists which are selected for a single mission and are not part of the astronaut corps - among them were mostly scientist, also a few politicians and many international astronauts.