spationaut

Etymology

French spationaute. spatio- + -naut

noun

1. An astronaut, regardless of nationality.
   How many spationauts are there? 1997, Aaron Jelinek, “spationauts”, in sci.space.science (Usenet)
2. A French spationaut or astronaut.
   Long term cosmonauts Gennadiy Manakov and Aleksandr Polishchuk, who arrived at Mir on Jan. 24th, will be flying French Spationaut Jean-Pierre Haignere in the older Soyuz TM-16 capsule. 1993, Glenn Chapman, “Russian/French crew set to leave Mir space station”, in sci.space (Usenet)
3. A European astronaut, specifically one representing ESA.
   The next flight to the ISS is scheduled for April 19th and will be composed of Russian cosmonaut Guennady Padalka, American astronaut Michael Fincke and ESA Dutch spationaut André Kuipers. [ESA, AFP 04/02/2004, Air & Cosmos 04/09/2004] 2004, “EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY HOPES TO SEND TWO ASTRONAUTS TO THE ISS IN 2005”, in France in Space, archived from the original on 2004-05-06
   Considering the weight problems that Hermes ran into, the astronauts probably thought that they were lucky to have seats, much less ejection seats, rather than slings to sit in. Something about an ESA spationaut putting their ass into a sling is unappealing. 2005, Pat Flannery, “Son of Little Joe II”, in sci.space.policy (Usenet)