Its all well and good dreaming of everyone living in space, but space is a young person game and there are reasons. To go into space you need to be fit and health meaning most astronauts are under 40 years of age. But some are very young and here are the youngest astronauts so far…
The Ten Youngest Astronauts to Have Gone Into Space
10 – Abdul Ahad Mohmand from Afghanistan – Age at first space flight: 29
Abdul Ahad Mohmand is a former Afghan Air Force aviator who became the first Afghan citizen and fourth Muslim to journey to outer space.
9 – Vladimír Remek from Czech Republic – Age at first space flight: 29
Vladimír Remek is a Czech politician and diplomat as well as a former cosmonaut and military pilot. He flew aboard Soyuz 28 from 2 to 10 March 1978, becoming the first Czechoslovak in space and the only Czech in space.
8 – Sultan bin Salman from Saudi Arabia – Age at first space flight: 28
Sultan bin Salman, became the first person of royal blood, first Arab, and first Muslim to fly in outer space when he flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in June 1985 and Sultan bin Salman is currently the chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism & Antiquities (SCTA).
7 – Valery Bykovsky from Russia – Age at first space flight: 28
Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky is a retired Soviet cosmonaut who flew three manned space mission space flights: Vostok 5, Soyuz 22, and Soyuz 31. He was also backup for Vostok 3 and Soyuz 37.
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6 – Dumitru Prunariu from Romania – Age at first space flight: 28
Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu is a Romanian cosmonaut. He flew in space aboard Soyuz 40 spacecraft and Salyut 6 space laboratory. He was on a team with another Romanian cosmonaut called Dumitru Dediu.
5 – Helen Sharman from GB – Age at first space flight: 27
Helen Patricia Sharman, CMG, OBE, HonFRSC is a British chemist who became the first British astronaut and the first woman to visit the Mir space station in 1991.
4 – Yuri Gagarin from Russia – Age at first space flight: 27
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961.
3 – Boris Yegorov from Russia – Age at first space flight: 26
Boris Borisovich Yegorov was a Soviet physician-cosmonaut who became the first physician to make a space flight. Yegorov came from a medical background, with his father a prominent heart surgeon, and his mother an ophthalmologist.
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2 – Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova from Russia – Age at first space flight: 26
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is a retired Russian cosmonaut, engineer, and politician. She is the first woman to have flown in space, having been selected from more than 400 applicants and five finalists to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963.
1 – Gherman Titov from Russia – Age at first space flight: 25
Gherman Stepanovich Titov was a Soviet cosmonaut who, on 6 August 1961, became the second human to orbit the Earth, aboard Vostok 2, preceded by Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1.
