---
title: "Astronaut"
chunk: 6/6
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:47:08.658762+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

As of 2020, eighteen astronauts (fourteen men and four women) have died during four space flights. By nationality, thirteen were American, four were Russian (Soviet Union), and one was Israeli.
As of 2020, eleven people (all men) have died training for spaceflight: eight Americans and three Russians. Six of these were in crashes of training jet aircraft, one drowned during water recovery training, and four were due to fires in pure oxygen environments.
Astronaut David Scott left a memorial consisting of a statuette titled Fallen Astronaut on the surface of the Moon during his 1971 Apollo 15 mission, along with a list of the names of eight of the astronauts and six cosmonauts known at the time to have died in service.
The Space Mirror Memorial, which stands on the grounds of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, is maintained by the Astronauts Memorial Foundation and commemorates the lives of the men and women who have died during spaceflight and during training in the space programs of the United States. In addition to twenty NASA career astronauts, the memorial includes the names of an X-15 test pilot, a U.S. Air Force officer who died while training for a then-classified military space program, and a civilian spaceflight participant.

== See also ==

== Explanatory notes ==

== References ==

== External links ==

"The Human Body in Space". NASA. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
NASA: How to become an astronaut 101 Archived 18 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine
List of International partnership organizations Archived 26 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine
Encyclopedia Astronautica: Phantom cosmonauts
collectSPACE: Astronaut appearances calendar
spacefacts Spacefacts.de
Manned astronautics: facts and figures
Astronaut Candidate Brochure online Archived 22 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine