Cosmonauts and Astronauts — What’s the Difference?
Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will join two Russian cosmonauts on the ISS — but what’s the difference?
NASA announced this week that it would be conducting it’s first manned launch from US soil in nearly a decade. The launch is primarily funded by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and will deliver two astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, to the International Space Station. There, Behnken and Hurley will join a fellow American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts. But what is the difference between an astronaut and a cosmonaut? Wouldn’t it just be easier to use one word?
Etymology: Stars and Galaxies
The word astronaut dates back all the way to 1880. It was the name of a space ship in the novel Across the Zodiac by English science-fiction writer Percy Greg, possibly in reference to the Greek hero Jason and his famous band of sailors — the Argonauts. Where Jason and his crew sailed the Argo however, astronauts sail the stars (from the Greek, astro- ‘star’ + nautes ‘sailor’). Despite being the first to use the term however, Greg cannot take credit for it’s popular usage. Understandably, the word only really entered into common parlance in the early 1960s thanks to a much more obvious source: NASA.
The use of the word cosmonaut is only slightly more modern. Rather than sailors of the stars, cosmonauts are sailors of the galaxy (kosmo- ‘galaxy’ + nautes ‘sailor’). In the Soviet Union, the words cosmonaut (космонавт) and astronaut (астронавт) were used interchangeably until the 12th April, 1961 when Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space.
The achievement had a massive effect on Soviet morale. Sergei Khrushchev, son of the then Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, described the celebrations in Moscow as comparable to those following the end of the Second World War:
“When we look at the response of the Muscovites, where everyone was in the streets, on the roofs of buildings and in the windows, I would compare this celebration with Victory Day.” — Sergei Khrushchev
The first man in space was as much of a blow to the Americans as it was a boon to the Russians. President Kennedy barred Gagarin from entering the U.S.A. and, in a matter of years, he would try to end the Space Race entirely by proposing a joint US-USSR space programme. Importantly for us, it is this event that solidified the distinction between astronauts and cosmonauts in the English language. This can be observed in an ABC news broadcast following Gagarin’s successful mission. The broadcaster, Jules Bergman, would sound complimentary were it not for his tone:
“27 years-old, suave, handsome, highly trained, married to a medical student, father of two girls, occupation: cosmonaut — the world’s first.” — Jules Bergman
In the era of propaganda, everything must be framed as a duality. Capitalism vs. Communism; Democracy vs. Dictatorship; Astronaut vs. Cosmonaut.
Astronauts and Cosmonauts in the Modern Day
So these words are Cold War relics, why not just let bygones be bygones and settle on a single word? Unsurprisingly, the explanation is not so simple. Despite originating from a nuclear fuelled rivalry, the terms persist not out of animosity, but out of respect.
It is often cited that an astronaut is someone who pilots an American craft while a cosmonaut is someone who pilots a Russian one, however a little research reveals this is not the whole story. Take for instance the Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Al Masrie, who travelled to the ISS in 2007 thanks to the joint Russian-Malay Angkasawan program. Despite Russian involvement, Al Masrie is referred to, in English at least, as an astronaut, even by Russia’s own state television service Russia Today. Of course this explanation also ignores the large number of American’s who made missions to both the ISS and the now defunct Mir aboard the Soyuz programme. The first of whom, Norman Thagard, was heralded by some in the media as ‘The First American Cosmonaut.’ Despite making for a good headline however, in regular speech no one seriously refers to Thagard, or indeed any of the other American who partook in the Soyuz programme, as a cosmonaut, putting this definition to bed.
Looking at the nationalities of other space travellers shows us there is no hard and fast rule. Obviously, those selected and trained by Russian programmes are considered cosmonauts, but the list also includes those from other national programmes including ex-Soviet countries, such as Kazakhstan's Aidyn Aimbetov, and non-Soviet states, such as Austria’s Franz Viehböck. Additionally, Ukraine’s Leonid Kadeniuk goes by the moniker of astronaut despite being trained by the Soviet Cosmonaut Corps. These examples are the most telling as to why this distinction still exists.
The term is a sign of lineage. To those who bare the title cosmonaut, it is a mark of pride that ties them to the first spaceman, the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and all of his successors. To those that abandon it, it is a label that belongs to a regime and political structure they wish to distance themselves from. To everyone else, it is respectful to refer to these professionals in the manner they prefer. Scientific programmes are, after all, one of the most powerful forms of soft diplomacy. Therefore, we shouldn’t be surprised that the language surrounding one of mankind's greatest collaborative projects requires us to show a little bit of tact.
