Dot Wordsworth

Are cosmonauts really Russian?

[Getty Images] 
issue 17 February 2024

Oleg Kononenko has been in space since 15 September last year and has just broken the cumulative record for time in orbit of 879 days. Being Russian he is referred to as a cosmonaut. Americans are astronauts.

It seems odd that Russians can decide what English-speakers call their spacemen.

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