How many people are in space right now? is a single serving site that will give you the answer, along with the astronauts’ names, ranks, nationalities, and how long they’ve been in space.
As of August 26, 2013, these six people have emigrated from Earth’s atmosphere and not yet returned:
- Pavel Vinogradov, Commander (Russia): 151 DAYS IN SPACE
- Alexander Misurkin, Flight Engineer (Russia): 151 DAYS IN SPACE
- Chris Cassidy, Flight Engineer (USA): 151 DAYS IN SPACE
- Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer (Russia): 90 DAYS IN SPACE
- Karen Nyberg, Flight Engineer (USA): 90 DAYS IN SPACE
- Luca Parmitano, Flight Engineer (Italy): 90 DAYS IN SPACE
When I was a kid, I always thought that by the time I was an adult, we would have town-sized colonies in space stations around Earth, even if nowhere else. But getting and keeping human beings in space is hard, and robots have gotten very smart. Still, when I think about the rise of commercial human spaceflight, part of me is like “I don’t just want to shoot into space like a soda can and do one lousy orbit!” — as if that wouldn’t be the most magical experience of my life. It doesn’t matter. What I really want is to do a semester abroad.
Hats tipped to Zach Seward, Melody Kramer, and Sharon Jacobs.