README.md

---
license: cc0-1.0
pretty_name: "Astronaut Database"
language:
  - en
description: >-
  Every person who has traveled to space, sourced from Wikidata.
  863 astronauts from 64 countries with flight counts
  and time in space.
size_categories:
  - n<1K
task_categories:
  - tabular-classification
tags:
  - space
  - astronaut
  - human-spaceflight
  - wikidata
  - missions
  - open-data
  - tabular-data
  - parquet
configs:
  - config_name: default
    data_files:
      - split: train
        path: data/astronauts.parquet
---

# Astronaut Database

*Part of the [Astronomy Datasets](https://huggingface.co/collections/juliensimon/astronomy-datasets-69c24caf2f17e36128946743) collection on Hugging Face.*

Complete database of every person who has traveled to space — **863** astronauts
from **64** countries, sourced from [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/).

## Dataset description

Since Yuri Gagarin's flight aboard Vostok 1 in April 1961, fewer than 700 individuals
have crossed the Karman line (100 km altitude). This dataset records every one of them,
from the Mercury Seven and Voskhod cosmonauts through Space Shuttle crews, ISS expeditions,
and the recent wave of commercial astronauts aboard Crew Dragon and New Shepard.

The dataset includes birth/death dates, sex, nationality, employer history (space agencies
and contractors), number of spaceflights, and total time spent in space. This enables
demographic analysis of astronaut corps, diversity-in-STEM research, and historical studies
of human spaceflight programs.

Sourced from Wikidata's structured knowledge base (property P106=Q11631 for occupation:astronaut),
which is maintained by the WikiProject Spaceflight community and updated as new flights occur.

## Schema

| Column | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| `wikidata_id` | string | Wikidata entity ID (e.g. Q1029) |
| `name` | string | Full name |
| `birth_date` | string | Date of birth (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| `death_date` | string | Date of death if deceased |
| `sex` | string | Sex (male/female) |
| `nationality` | string | Nationality |
| `employers` | string | Employers, semicolon-separated (space agencies, contractors) |
| `num_flights` | int | Number of spaceflights |
| `time_in_space_min` | int | Total time in space (minutes) |
| `birth_year` | int | Year of birth (derived) |
| `time_in_space_hours` | float | Total time in space (hours, derived) |

## Quick stats

- **863** astronauts from **64** countries
- **733** male, **130** female
- **644** with recorded spaceflights
- Most flights: Fyodor Yurchikhin (12)
- Top nationalities: United States (447), Soviet Union (95), Russia (89), People's Republic of China (33), Japan (17)

## Usage

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("juliensimon/astronaut-database", split="train")
df = ds.to_pandas()

# Astronauts by nationality
print(df["nationality"].value_counts().head(10))

# Female astronauts
female = df[df["sex"] == "female"]
print(f"{len(female):,} female astronauts")

# Most time in space
top_time = df.nlargest(10, "time_in_space_hours")[["name", "nationality", "time_in_space_hours"]]
print(top_time)

# NASA astronauts
nasa = df[df["employers"].str.contains("NASA", na=False)]
print(f"{len(nasa):,} NASA-affiliated astronauts")
```

## Data source

[Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/) SPARQL endpoint. Astronauts identified via
property P106 (occupation) = Q11631 (astronaut). Data is community-curated by
[WikiProject Spaceflight](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Spaceflight).

## Update schedule

Static dataset. Re-run manually to pick up new astronauts.

## Related datasets

- [launch-log](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/launch-log) -- McDowell launch log
- [satcat](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/satcat) -- Satellite catalog
- [nasa-eva](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/nasa-eva) -- NASA EVA history

## Pipeline

Source code: [juliensimon/space-datasets](https://github.com/juliensimon/space-datasets)

## Support

If you find this dataset useful, please give it a ❤️ on the [dataset page](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/astronaut-database) and share feedback in the Community tab! Also consider giving a ⭐️ to the [space-datasets](https://github.com/juliensimon/space-datasets) repo.

## Citation

```bibtex
@dataset{astronaut_database,
  author = {Simon, Julien},
  title = {Astronaut Database},
  year = {2026},
  publisher = {Hugging Face},
  url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/astronaut-database},
  note = {Sourced from Wikidata (CC0)}
}
```

## License

[CC0-1.0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) (Wikidata content is public domain)