Right now there are 14 people in space: 11 on the International Space Station (ISS) and 3 on China's Tiangong space station. The count and the crew lists on this page are updated automatically every time it loads, and were last refreshed on October 5, 2026.
The number changes several times a year as crews rotate, so a figure in a news story is often out of date within weeks. Below you will find every person currently in orbit, with their agency, country and launch date, station by station, plus how the count normally changes.
Who Is in Space Right Now?
Here is the full list of people in orbit, grouped by station. "In space since" is the launch date of the spacecraft that carried each person into orbit. The data comes from The Space Devs, a public database of crewed spaceflight, and matches the crew announcements published on NASA's space station blog.
People on the ISS right now (11)
| # | Name | Agency | Country | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrei Fedyaev | Roscosmos | Russia | February 13, 2026 |
| 2 | Jack Hathaway | NASA | United States | February 13, 2026 |
| 3 | Jessica Meir | NASA | United States | February 13, 2026 |
| 4 | Sophie Adenot | ESA | France | February 13, 2026 |
| 5 | Anil Menon | NASA | United States | July 14, 2026 |
| 6 | Anna Kikina | Roscosmos | Russia | July 14, 2026 |
| 7 | Pyotr Dubrov | Roscosmos | Russia | July 14, 2026 |
| 8 | Jessica Watkins | NASA | United States | October 1, 2026 |
| 9 | Joshua Kutryk | CSA | Canada | October 1, 2026 |
| 10 | Luke Delaney | NASA | United States | October 1, 2026 |
| 11 | Sergey Teteryatnikov | Roscosmos | Russia | October 1, 2026 |
Data: The Space Devs. Updated automatically when the page loads. Last updated: October 5, 2026.
The station crew is drawn from NASA, the Russian space agency Roscosmos, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japanese agency JAXA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Private astronauts also visit from time to time on short commercial missions.
People on Tiangong right now (3)
| # | Name | Agency | Country | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lai Ka-ying | CMSA | China | May 24, 2026 |
| 2 | Zhang Zhiyuan | CMSA | China | May 24, 2026 |
| 3 | Zhu Yangzhu | CMSA | China | May 24, 2026 |
Data: The Space Devs. Updated automatically when the page loads. Last updated: October 5, 2026.
As of October 5, 2026, the crew on board is Shenzhou 23, which launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on May 24, 2026. Commander Zhu Yangzhu is on his second flight after Shenzhou 16 in 2023, while pilot Zhang Zhiyuan and payload specialist Lai Ka-ying are on their first. Lai Ka-ying is the first astronaut from Hong Kong. China has said that one member of this crew will stay on board for about a year, which would be the longest single mission in the Chinese programme.
Are there any other missions in space right now?
No other crewed spacecraft is listed in orbit at the moment. When a private mission flies on its own or a crew is travelling to a station, it appears here automatically.
How Many Astronauts Are on the ISS?
Right now there are 11 people on the ISS. During normal operations the station usually has a crew of 7: four who arrive on a SpaceX Crew Dragon and three who arrive on a Russian Soyuz. The count rises to 11 for a few days whenever a new Dragon crew arrives before the previous one leaves, so the outgoing astronauts can hand over their work, and it can go higher still when a private mission is visiting.
Crew members usually stay about six months. Rotations are staggered, so the Dragon and Soyuz crews change at different times and the station is never left empty. The ISS has had people on board without interruption since 2 November 2000. To see where it is at this moment, check where the ISS is right now on the live map.
How Many People Are on Tiangong Now?
There are 3 people on Tiangong right now. Its standard crew is 3, and China rotates crews roughly every six months with a new Shenzhou spacecraft. During each handover the new crew arrives before the old one leaves, so Tiangong briefly hosts 6 people.
Tiangong flies a little lower than the ISS and on a less tilted orbit, so it never travels as far north or south. Our guide to the Tiangong space station explains its modules, its orbit and how to see it from the ground.
Why Does the Number of People in Space Change?
The total moves up and down several times a year, for four main reasons:
- Crew handovers. Both stations overlap old and new crews for a few days, so the count jumps and then falls back.
- Short visits. Some missions bring guests for a week or two, such as private astronaut missions to the ISS or international visitors to Tiangong.
- Suborbital flights. Tourist flights that briefly cross the edge of space add people to the count for only a few minutes.
- Independent missions. Occasionally a crewed spacecraft flies on its own without docking to a station, which adds a separate group to the total.
You can follow the crewed flights that cause these changes, along with every other launch, on SatFleet Live Launches. For SpaceX missions in particular, our guide to the SpaceX launch schedule explains how to follow each launch live.
When Will the Number Change Next?
As of October 5, 2026, two changes are expected in the coming weeks:
- Crew-12 returns to Earth. NASA and SpaceX are targeting undocking no earlier than October 7, 2026, followed by a splashdown off the coast of California. Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot and Andrei Fedyaev will come home after arriving at the station in February, and the ISS will return to its usual crew size.
- Shenzhou 24 launches to Tiangong. China's next crew mission is expected in late October or November 2026. It is expected to carry the first Pakistani astronaut for a visit of about a week, which would make him the first foreign astronaut to board Tiangong. China usually confirms launch dates and crews only shortly before each flight.
The live count and tables at the top of this page will reflect these changes automatically once they happen.
How Is the Live Count Calculated?
When you open this page, SatFleet Live requests the current list of people in orbit from its own server, which collects the data from The Space Devs. That database tracks every crewed spacecraft and the people on board, and is updated as launches, dockings and landings happen. If the live data cannot be loaded for any reason, the page shows the most recent list checked by our team, with the date it was last updated.
Each person is counted from the moment their spacecraft reaches orbit until they land. That is why the total can jump by three or four on the day of a crew launch, a few hours before the new crew even boards the station.
What Is the Most People Ever in Space at Once?
The record is 20 people, set for a few minutes in May 2023, when six people on a suborbital flight joined the crews already in orbit on the ISS, including a private mission visiting the station, and on Tiangong. Counting only people in orbit, the totals have ranged in recent years from around 10 to the high teens, depending on how many visits overlap.
At the other end of the scale, there has not been a single moment without people in space since 31 October 2000, when the first long-term ISS crew launched. They boarded the station two days later. More than 780 people have now flown to space in total, from over 50 countries.
Can You See the Space Stations From Earth?
Yes. Both stations are easy to see with the naked eye when they pass over your area at dusk or dawn. The ISS is one of the brightest objects in the night sky: a steady white light that crosses the sky in a few minutes without blinking. Tiangong is fainter but still brighter than most stars.
To catch one, open Next Passes and enter your location to see the time and direction of the next visible pass. Our guide on when and where to see the ISS tonight explains how to plan a sighting, step by step.