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Not many people have been in space

Earthrise

The Airbus A380 is currently the world’s largest passenger jet. Depending on the seating configuration, the A380 can carry anywhere from 400 to 615 passengers and is certified for up to 853 passengers.

As of November 2013, only 536 people have ever been in space (any flight above 100 kilometres).1 The listing of their names on Wikipedia is shorter than the site’s page on Game of Thrones. Only 24 of those people left low Earth orbit (on the Apollo missions) and only 12 of those men set foot on the Moon. Seven of the moon walkers are still alive; they’re all in their 80s. Six people are currently in space.

We’ve been sending humans into space for 55 years. That’s an average of about 10 people per year if you don’t count repeats. Human space exploration is still very much in its infancy.

  1. You’ll also note this is fewer than the number of members of the US Congress. FYI, there are only five people who have been in space and served in Congress, two of whom went while serving in Congress.โ†ฉ