New record! 17 people are in Earth orbit at the same time right now

By Robert Z. Pearlman last updated about 12 hours ago
The 17 travelers hail from five different countries.



China's Shenzhou 15 and Shenzhou 16 crews join together aboard the country's Tiangong space station on Tuesday, May 30, 2023. The six taikonauts include Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming Zhang Lu, Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao. (Image credit: China Manned Space Agency)

The total number of people in Earth orbit is now at a record high, though only for a short time.

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 during the privately funded Inspiration4 mission in September 2021, was 14 people.

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The five of the six Expedition 69 crew members pose for a photo with the four Axiom Space Ax-2 astronauts before the latter departed the International Space Station on Tuesday, May 30, 2023. The astronauts and cosmonauts pictured include Sultan Alneyadi, Peggy Whitson, Ali Alqarni, John Shoffner, Rayyanah Barnawi, Dmitri Petelin, Stephen Bowen, Andrey Fedyaev, Sergey Prokopyev and Woody Hoburg. (Not pictured is Frank Rubio.) (Image credit: NASA)

By coincidence, the current record includes the 600th person to enter Earth orbit. Ax-2 mission specialist Barnawi became the sexcentenarian orbital space traveler, as well as the first Saudi woman in space, when she and her crew launched on May 21.

More:
https://www.space.com/record-17-people-in-earth-orbit-at-once