Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft. Although generally reserved for professional space travelers, the terms are sometimes applied to anyone who travels into space, including scientists, politicians, journalists, and tourists.

Starting in the 1950s up to 2002, astronauts were sponsored and trained exclusively by governments, either by the military or by civilian space agencies. With the suborbital flight of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of astronaut was created: the commercial astronaut.

Definition

The criteria for what constitutes human spaceflight vary. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) Sporting Code for astronautics recognizes only flights that exceed an altitude of 100 kilometers (62 mi). In the United States, professional, military, and commercial astronauts who travel above an altitude of 50 miles (80 km) are awarded astronaut wings.

Astronauts (band)

Astronauts is the solo musical project of the UK songwriter, Dan Carney. He is signed to London-based imprint Lo Recordings.

History

Carney initially conceived the project in 2013, following the end of his previous band Dark Captain, and while recuperating from a badly broken leg. After the first Astronauts songs were uploaded to Soundcloud in November 2013, a deal was signed with Lo Recordings.

The debut Astronauts single, "Skydive", was released in June 2014, receiving support from BBC Radio 6 Music's Tom Ravenscroft,Gideon Coe,Cerys Matthews, and Steve Lamacq, as well as BBC Radio Scotland’s Roddy Hart, and Huey Morgan on BBC Radio 2, earning Carney comparisons with Elliott Smith,Broken Bells, and The Shins, and making the Hype Machine charts. The video for the song was devised and directed by London-based Irish artist Michelle Deignan.

The debut album, Hollow Ponds, named after an area of Epping Forest near where Carney lives, and was hospitalized following his leg fracture, was released in July 2014. The collection featured musical contributions from Firestations' Michael Cranny (who co-authored a number of tracks), London alt-folk singer Jess Bryant and cellist Nicole Robson (Bat For Lashes, Stats), with Sputnik Music describing the sound as “often bleak and highly contemplative indie-folk”.

Astronauts (TV series)

Astronauts was a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 26 October 1981 to 23 August 1983. It was written by Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie, two of The Goodies. Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, who wrote Porridge, were script editors. It was made for the ITV network by Witzend for ATV, which became Central midway through the production run.

Cast

Plot

The three primary characters are sent into outer space to occupy a space station for six months. They take with them a dog, a collection of white mice and some insects. The dog, Bimbo, had previously appeared in The Goodies. The astronauts' names are Malcolm Mattocks, Gentian Foster and David Ackroyd, whilst the astronauts' contact at Mission Control is Beadle, an American. The humour was primarily based on the claustrophobic conditions of the two-room "sky lab" and the consequent tensions.