The whole number of individuals in Earth orbit is now at a record high, though just for a short while.
With the launch of China’s three-person Shenzhou 16 mission on Monday (May 29) at 9:31 p.m. EDT (0131 GMT or 9:31 a.m. Beijing Time on May 30), the population in orbit grew to 17.
The previous record, set throughout the privately funded Inspiration4 mission in September 2021, was 14 people.
The present count is comprised by 4 crews:
- Shenzhou 16 (three people) — Chinese taikonauts Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao, now aboard China’s Tiangong space station.
- Shenzhou 15 (three people) — Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu, who’ve been aboard Tiangong since November 2022 and who’re expected to return to Earth in early June.
- Expedition 69 (six people) — Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Andrey Fedyaev of Russia’s federal space corporate Roscosmos; astronauts Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg of NASA; and Emirati astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on the International Space Station (ISS).
- Axiom-2 (4 people) — Axiom Space astronaut Peggy Whitson, private astronaut John Shoffner and Saudi Arabian astronauts Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, who departed the ISS aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon “Freedom” to return to Earth on Tuesday (May 30).
The Ax-2 crew is scheduled to splash down off the coast of Florida at about 11:04 p.m. EDT on Tuesday (0304 GMT on Wednesday, May 31), leaving 13 people in Earth orbit.
By coincidence, the present record includes the 600th person to enter Earth orbit. Ax-2 mission specialist Barnawi became the sexcentenarian orbital space traveler, in addition to the primary Saudi woman in space, when she and her crew launched on May 21.
The record for most individuals in space (quite than simply Earth orbit) without delay was set on Dec. 11, 2021 and lasted an excellent shorter period of time. For about 10 minutes, there have been 19 people off the planet.
That record was set by the six members of Blue Origin’s NS-19 Latest Shepard crew, whose suborbital spaceflight coincided with three Chinese taikonauts living aboard Tiangong and eight astronauts, cosmonauts and spaceflight participants on board the International Space Station.
- Latest Shepard NS-19 (six people): Laura Shepard Churchley, Michael Strahan, Dylan Taylor, Evan Dick, Lane Bess and Cameron Bess.
- Shenzhou 13 (three people) — Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu.
- Expedition 66 (eight people) – U.S. astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron; Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov, Pyotr Dubrov and Alexander Misurkin; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer; and Japanese “space tourists” Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano.
Since 2000, there was a continuous presence of humans in space, dating back to the primary crew to take up residency on the International Space Station.
China accomplished assembly of its three-module Tiangong space station late last 12 months. The Shenzhou 16 crew is the station’s fifth contingent since 2021.