Reddit’s DataViz Battle: Nasa Astronaut EDA

This is my first entry for Reddit’s r/dataisbeautiful. All the visualizations are done in Tableau Public.

Most of us dream of being an astronaut one day. Yuri Gagarin(cosmonaut) the first person on space, and countless other astronauts have been in space. We have touched the moon, maybe mars will soon follow. In this article, I visualized the NASA astronaut data from NASA Astronauts database in Reddit’s DataViz Battle.

Handling Missing Data

In the above datasets, lots of value for the job column were missing so by the hard way I added job description by looking through Wikipedia of individual astronauts occupation or NASA Career section. Through the process, I learnt a lot about astronauts.

• Alan Shephard — First American in Space(knew this).
• Harrison Schmitt — the Most Recent living person who walked on the moon.
• Norman Thagard — First American cosmonaut(Russian astronaut).
• Ravish Malhotra — Who could’ve been the First Indian on Moon. Had Rakesh Sharma Not Made The Cut, Ravish Malhotra Could Have Been 1st Indian in Space.
• Eugene Cernan — Last Person on the moon and is on the documented movie The Last Man on the Moon. (knew this).

While going through the pages got to know of tragic accidents and the struggles of becoming an astronaut. Hats off to all the astronauts.

Astronauts by Gender

From the barplot, we can see that there are more male astronauts compared to female. There could be social or political reasons for the numbers being lower than men astronauts and numerous other reasons. Check this link. The female astronaut numbers may increase over time.

Astronaut Hours on Space.

From the Treemap above, we can see Michael Fincke as the astronaut with most hours in space. The dataset may be old because currently, Peggy Whitson overtakes Michael Fincke and Scott Kelly at 2nd place. It’s great to see 4 women at the top(Peggy, Lucid, Susan, Sunita) as there are fewer women astronauts.

Astronaut Flights to Space

From the above barplot, we can see that fewer of the most hour on space astronauts(previous plot) are present at the top for the number of flights in space(above plot). Probably, most of the longest time spending astronauts take few flights and spend more time on space.

Astronauts by Groups

We can see from group 16 and group 8 having the most astronauts. Group 16 is the selection group from the year 1996 where ISS required crew members and regular shuttle needs. Group 8 is the selection group from the year 1978 after a 9-year gap of selection. As after such a long time of selection, more astronauts were selected and it formed 2 astronaut groups: pilots and mission specialists.

Astronaut Date of Birth(D.O.B.)

This packed bubble visualization doesn’t make of much sense as the birth year contributes to the astronaut, but we can infer most of the astronauts were born in 1930,1940s,1950s,1960s. Probably because of the space race between the Soviets and the USA.

Number of Astronauts selected by the Year

We can see from the line plot above 1975 there is a sudden rise in the number of astronauts, similar to 1996. Its case is similar to Astronauts by group discussed above.

Astronauts selected by Military/Civilian Profession

From the above barplot, we can see that there are more military astronauts than civilian. Previously, maybe as the projects all were classified for intelligence purposes or as the training was stressful more military personnel were recruited as astronauts. Even civilian astronauts are on the rise as it requires certain specialization and training to become an astronaut.

Military Details of Astronaut

From above, we come to know that of the military post, most are in US Air Force and US Navy as Captain, Commander, Colonel. As the posts have highly experienced individuals they occupy most of the astronauts share.

Astronaut Status

From the above barplot, we can infer that most of them are former astronauts. Current depicts currently working astronauts. Deceased include those astronauts who died during tragic accidents or natural death.

Jobs of Astronauts

From the above barplot, we can see that most of the astronaut jobs are specialized. Mission Specialist astronauts are individuals with a doctor, or engineer, physician, geology degree and much more which are essential for any space program to take place. Test pilots and pilot are former individuals with experience in US-Airforce. Check this link to know more about the duties astronauts.

Flights by group

From the above barplot, we can see Group 8 has more flights as they have more astronaut members so more flights were taken. It had been 9 years since the selection of a group, and new 35 members were selected and first time 2 different pilot groups were formed-Mission Specialist, Pilots. Group 20 has Flights equal to 0 probably because the space program wasn’t initiated.

Cumulative hours and Flights by Year

From the above dual axis plot, we can see that the late 1970’s as the number of astronauts and flights were more i.e Group 8 but contradictorily the cumulative flight hours was less. Similarly, during 1996 i.e group 16 had 64 flights but a comparably more cumulative flight hour because Michael Fincke and Scott Kelly were present in the group who were at the top in cumulative flight hour charts. In the end, Group 20 has 0 flights as the data is only till 2010 and is not updated to 2018.

Cumulative Hour and Flights by Job

From above, we can infer that mission specialist are crucial to any space program as they have the most flights and cumulative flight hour in space. Test Pilot and Pilot is an important part for guiding the space program have high flight and Hour time in space.

Tableau Visualizations and Story: Reddit NASA Astronauts

Conclusion

Thus we conclude that mission specialists and pilots are important individuals in any program. Mission specialists travel in space for a long time. Astronauts who are test pilot and pilot have a military past and mission specialists have a specialized degree. Most astronauts are male but the numbers are changing by the year.