> how many astronauts will we need in the coming decades 687 people in space to date; Starship plans to carry as many as 100 passengers at a time. I think it'

> how many astronauts will we need in the coming decades 687 people in space to date; Starship plans to carry as many as 100 passengers at a time. I think it's safe to assume that there will be so many people in space in the near future that the meaning of the word Astronaut is not really going to hold up much longer -- not that it will go away. There are still "Aviators" in the world after all, but not everyone who gets on a plane or even flies one would necessarily assign that term to themselves. WRT "NASA Astronauts": It's a bit of a loaded question too to single out "hired by NASA to fly to space" as the epitome of a space faring person. While there is currently a good argument to be made that NASA Astronauts have truly been a cut above, at some point it's almost inevitable that commercial/private space operations will eclipse NASA and the best and most capable people going to space will no longer choose to work a government job where they have limited authority over their careers. Take a look at the astronauts who have been waiting to fly Starliner - as storybook cool as it is, being an astronaut can also suck immensely.