Editing Human spaceflight (section)

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{{Short description|Spaceflight with a crew or passengers}}
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{{Use American English|date=October 2020}}
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| image1 = Aldrin Apollo 11 original.jpg
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| caption1 = [[Apollo 11]] astronaut [[Buzz Aldrin]] on the Moon, 1969
| caption2 = [[Voskhod 2]] cosmonaut [[Alexei Leonov]], first in open space, 1965
| caption3 = [[Gemini 4]] astronaut [[Ed White (astronaut)|Ed White]] in open space, 1965
| caption4 = [[Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency]] astronaut [[Akihiko Hoshide]] taking a [[space selfie]] in 2012
| caption5 = [[International Space Station]] crewmember [[Tracy Caldwell Dyson]] views the Earth, 2010
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'''Human spaceflight''' (also referred to as '''manned spaceflight''' or '''crewed spaceflight''') is [[spaceflight]] with a crew or passengers aboard a [[spacecraft]], often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be [[telerobotic|remotely operated]] from ground stations on Earth, or [[Autonomous robot|autonomously]], without any direct human involvement. People trained for spaceflight are called [[astronaut]]s (American or other), ''cosmonauts'' (Russian), or ''taikonauts'' (Chinese); and non-professionals are referred to as [[spaceflight participant]]s or ''spacefarers''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mars|first=Kelli|date=2018-03-27|title=5 Hazards of Human Spaceflight|url=http://www.nasa.gov/hrp/5-hazards-of-human-spaceflight|access-date=2022-02-09|website=NASA|archive-date=28 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428014359/https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/5-hazards-of-human-spaceflight/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The first human in space was [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] cosmonaut [[Yuri Gagarin]], who launched as part of the Soviet Union's [[Vostok program]] on [[Cosmonautics Day|12 April 1961]] at the beginning of the [[Space Race]]. On 5 May 1961, [[Alan Shepard]] became the first American in space, as part of [[Project Mercury]]. Humans traveled to [[the Moon]] nine times between 1968 and 1972 as part of the United States' [[Apollo program]], and have had a continuous presence in space for {{age in years and days|2 November 2000|sep=and}} on the [[International Space Station]] (ISS).<ref>{{cite web |title=Counting the Many Ways the International Space Station Benefits Humanity |date=5 April 2019 |url=https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/counting-the-many-ways-the-international-space-station-benefits-humanity |access-date=4 May 2019}}</ref> On 15 October 2003, the first Chinese taikonaut, [[Yang Liwei]], went to space as part of [[Shenzhou 5]], the first Chinese human spaceflight. As of March 2025, humans have not traveled beyond [[low Earth orbit]] since the [[Apollo 17]] [[List of missions to the Moon|lunar mission]] in December 1972.

Currently, the [[United States]], Russia, and China are the only countries with [[human spaceflight programs|public or commercial human spaceflight-capable programs]]. [[List of private spaceflight companies|Non-governmental spaceflight companies]] have been working to develop human space programs of their own, e.g. for [[space tourism]] or commercial [[Space research|in-space research]]. The first private human spaceflight launch was a [[suborbital flight]] on [[SpaceShipOne]] on June 21, 2004. The first commercial [[Orbital spaceflight|orbital]] crew launch was by [[SpaceX]] in May 2020, transporting [[NASA]] astronauts to the [[ISS]] under United States government contract.<ref>{{Cite news|title=SpaceX Astronauts Reach Space Station After Milestone Voyage|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-30/spacex-set-to-retry-historic-rocket-launch-after-weather-delay|access-date=2020-06-16|newspaper=Bloomberg.com|date=30 May 2020 }}</ref>