People
Astronauts, cosmonauts, engineers, and the figures who shaped spaceflight.
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin (born 1930) is an American astronaut and engineer who flew Gemini 12 and Apollo 11, becoming the second person to walk on the Moon in 1969.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk (born 1971) founded SpaceX in 2002 and is its chief executive and chairman, directing the reusable Falcon rockets, Starlink, and the Starship program.
Gwynne Shotwell
Gwynne Shotwell (born 1963) has been SpaceX's president and COO since 2008, running its day-to-day operations from early Falcon sales to the 2026 IPO.
Katherine Johnson
Katherine Johnson (1918-2020) was a NASA mathematician whose trajectory calculations supported Mercury, Apollo 11, and Apollo 13, honored in Hidden Figures.
Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) was an American test pilot and NASA astronaut who commanded Apollo 11 and became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969.
Peggy Whitson
Peggy Whitson is an American biochemist and astronaut whose 695 cumulative days in space are the most of any American, over three NASA and two Axiom flights.
Sally Ride
Sally Ride (1951-2012) was a physicist and NASA astronaut who became the first American woman in space on STS-7 in 1983 and later led STEM education efforts.
Valentina Tereshkova
Valentina Tereshkova (born 1937) is a Soviet cosmonaut who became the first woman in space aboard Vostok 6 in 1963 and remains the only woman to fly solo.
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) was a Soviet cosmonaut who became the first human in space on April 12, 1961, orbiting Earth once aboard Vostok 1 in 108 minutes.