# The 32 Greatest NASA Astronauts of All Time

> Mercury-era test pilots stand beside shuttle trailblazers, long-haul station residents and the newest lunar crew, which turns every matchup into a debate between eras.

*By YPB Team · Published November 8, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-32-greatest-nasa-astronauts-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Neil Armstrong** — score 1000/1000
   Commander of Apollo 11 who became the first person to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969, after commanding Gemini 8's first orbital docking in 1966.
2. **Mae Jemison** — score 843/1000
   Became the first African American woman in space on Space Shuttle Endeavour's STS-47 mission in September 1992.
3. **John Glenn** — score 784/1000
   Became the first American to orbit Earth aboard Friendship 7 in February 1962 and flew again on Space Shuttle mission STS-95 in 1998 at age 77.
4. **Gene Cernan** — score 748/1000
   Commanded Apollo 17 in December 1972 and was the last person to step off the lunar surface.
5. **Sunita Williams** — score 748/1000
   Launched on Boeing Starliner's first crewed test flight in June 2024 and returned aboard a SpaceX Dragon in March 2025 after more than nine months on the ISS.
6. **Michael Collins** — score 686/1000
   Piloted Apollo 11's command module Columbia in lunar orbit in 1969 after making two spacewalks on Gemini 10 in 1966.
7. **Ellen Ochoa** — score 686/1000
   Became the first Hispanic woman in space on STS-56 in 1993 and later served as director of NASA's Johnson Space Center.
8. **Buzz Aldrin** — score 599/1000
   Apollo 11 lunar module pilot who followed Armstrong onto the Moon in 1969, three years after proving extended spacewalk techniques on Gemini 12.
9. **Bruce McCandless II** — score 599/1000
   Made the first untethered spacewalk, flying the Manned Maneuvering Unit away from Challenger during STS-41-B in February 1984.
10. **Alan Shepard** — score 490/1000
   Flew Freedom 7 in May 1961 as the first American in space, then commanded Apollo 14 in 1971 and hit golf balls on the lunar surface.
11. **Pete Conrad** — score 490/1000
   Commanded Apollo 12 in 1969 as the third person on the Moon and later led Skylab 2, the 1973 crew that repaired the damaged station.
12. **John Young** — score 490/1000
   Made six spaceflights across Gemini, Apollo and the Shuttle, walking on the Moon on Apollo 16 and commanding the first Space Shuttle flight, STS-1, in 1981.
13. **Jim Lovell** — score 425/1000
   Flew Gemini 7, Gemini 12 and Apollo 8, then commanded Apollo 13 in 1970, bringing its crew home after an oxygen tank explosion.
14. **Wally Schirra** — score 425/1000
   The only astronaut to fly in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, ending with command of Apollo 7 in 1968.
15. **Reid Wiseman** — score 425/1000
   Commanded Artemis II, the April 2026 crewed flight around the Moon, following a 2014 long-duration stay on the ISS.
16. **Story Musgrave** — score 425/1000
   The only astronaut to fly on all five Space Shuttle orbiters, he also spacewalked on the first Hubble servicing mission, STS-61, in 1993.
17. **Franklin Chang-Díaz** — score 350/1000
   Costa Rican-born physicist who flew seven Space Shuttle missions between 1986 and 2002.
18. **Kalpana Chawla** — score 350/1000
   First Indian-born woman in space, flying on STS-87 in 1997 before dying in the Columbia disaster on STS-107 in February 2003.
19. **Peggy Whitson** — score 350/1000
   Biochemist who became the first woman to command the International Space Station in 2007 and holds the American record for cumulative days in space.
20. **Doug Hurley** — score 350/1000
   Piloted STS-135, the final Space Shuttle mission in 2011, and commanded SpaceX's Demo-2 flight to the ISS in 2020.
21. **Sally Ride** — score 350/1000
   Became the first American woman in space on Space Shuttle Challenger's STS-7 mission in June 1983.
22. **Eileen Collins** — score 350/1000
   First woman to pilot a Space Shuttle on STS-63 in 1995 and first to command one on STS-93 in 1999.
23. **Scott Kelly** — score 350/1000
   Spent 340 consecutive days aboard the International Space Station in 2015 and 2016 while his identical twin Mark was studied on Earth for comparison.
24. **Victor Glover** — score 350/1000
   Piloted the Orion spacecraft on Artemis II in April 2026 after flying to the ISS on SpaceX Crew-1 in 2020.
25. **Gus Grissom** — score 264/1000
   Mercury Seven member who flew Liberty Bell 7 in 1961 and commanded Gemini 3 in 1965 before dying in the Apollo 1 fire in January 1967.
26. **Kathryn Sullivan** — score 264/1000
   Became the first American woman to walk in space on Challenger's STS-41-G mission in October 1984 and later served as NOAA administrator.
27. **Christina Koch** — score 264/1000
   Completed a 328-day ISS mission in 2020, the longest single spaceflight by a woman at the time, and flew around the Moon on Artemis II in April 2026.
28. **Gordon Cooper** — score 163/1000
   Flew Faith 7 in May 1963, the final Mercury mission and the first American flight to last more than a day, and later commanded Gemini 5.
29. **Ed White** — score 163/1000
   Made the first American spacewalk during Gemini 4 in June 1965 and died in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire in 1967.
30. **Jerry Ross** — score 163/1000
   Flew seven Space Shuttle missions from 1985 to 2002 and made nine spacewalks, several of them building the International Space Station.
31. **Bob Behnken** — score 163/1000
   Flew SpaceX's Demo-2 mission in May 2020, the first crewed orbital flight of a commercially built spacecraft, after two Space Shuttle missions.
32. **Guion Bluford** — score 0/1000
   Became the first African American in space aboard Challenger on STS-8 in August 1983.

Tags: usa, science, space, nasa, astronauts