National Astronaut Day

National Astronaut Day for the year 2023 is celebrated/observed on Friday, May 5th. There are until the next observance.

Since 2016, National Astronaut Day has been observed on May 5 to honor the first time an American, Alan Shepard, traveled to space. We’ve come a long way from the first-ever space voyage to the longest spaceflight by a woman.

📆 When is National Astronaut Day?

This year, National Astronaut Day is on May 5th. It is the 1st Friday in May; in 2024, it is on Sunday.

→ Did you know: Charles Duke, an Apollo 16 astronaut, left a photograph of his family with a note on the reverse identifying his family and the date, April 1972.

You can also view all fascinating things you didn’t know about and facts about May 5, 2023.

📜 History of National Astronaut Day

On May 5, 1961, Astronaut Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. became the first American to be sent into space. The flight lasted 15 minutes and reached 116 miles in altitude, which was a first.
The United States Space Agency established National Astronaut Day in 2016. Uniphi Good LLC, which represents over 20 former NASA astronauts, has a talent and marketing section.
National Astronaut Day honors astronauts as heroes who continue to inspire us to aspire for the stars. It is a tribute to all the courageous people who risked their lives to further mankind’s understanding of space travel and the cosmos in general.
The goal of National Astronaut Day is to tell stories and talk about the experiences of astronauts to get young people interested in space and encourage them to follow their dreams.

☑️ National Astronaut Day facts

✅ Pee-cautionary measure
Low gravity makes it hard for astronauts to know when their bladders are full, so they are told to go to the bathroom every two hours.

✅ First song in outer space
Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut, recorded the first original song in space, “Jewel in the Night.”

✅ Grow taller
Astronauts can grow up to 3% taller in microgravity, but they recover to their usual height after a few months on Earth.

✨ Things to do on National Astronaut Day

⚡ Watch a space documentary
On various OTT platforms, there are several documentaries on space exploration. “Apollo 11,” “Apollo: Missions to the Moon,” “Above and Beyond: NASA’s Journey to Tomorrow,” “How the Universe Works,” and “The Universe.” are among them.

⚡ Read biographies of astronauts
Read astronaut memoirs to discover more about their space adventures. “Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space” by Lynn Sherr, “Apollo 13” by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger, “Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys” by Michael Collins, and “Magnificent Desolation” by Buzz Aldrin are all excellent memoirs.

⚡ Share your favorite astronaut story

📅 National Astronaut Day Observances

View all May holidays, including Special Interest and other Appreciation holidays.

We will continue to update this page with new information and fun facts about National Astronaut Day. So be sure to check back soon.