Alone in space: an uncommon experience

Original Mercury astronauts flew solo flights. The early Soviet cosmonauts also went into space alone. Then, after the fatal Soyuz flight of Vladimir Komarov, single passenger flights came to a halt.

Bigger spacecraft, bigger crews

NASA’s Gemini was a two-man spacecraft. Apollo carried three. And Soyuz, after Soyuz 1, normally carried three cosmonauts.

Brian Binnie flew solo in space in 2004.

Still, others were alone in space. Though launched with two crew mates, on the Apollo lunar missions, the command module pilot was alone in his spacecraft…while the other two astronauts explored the moon.

Recent solo flights

Now, in the early 21st century, we’ve had a few examples of astronauts flying solo.

In 2003, China’s first manned spaceflight, Shenzhou 5, carried only its pilot, Yang Liwei.

The next year, the prize-winning private spacecraft, SpaceShipOne, went into space twice, each time with only one person aboard. Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie, like early space travelers, went alone.

More to come?

With the advent of private companies offering spaceflight, I would expect test flights of spacecraft destined to carry private passengers, will be performed with only a single pilot aboard. Still, space is rarely a place to be by yourself nowadays.