What's the best name for space travellers?

[Winner]

Several terms are currently used, but I'll limit the choice to those which are used by countries which have already put men in space or they're close to it (have the capability).

So, here are the candidates:

ASTRONAUT (United States of America)

Pros: Sound pretty good in English.
Cons: It's a show of the typical American bravado and an overinflated ego They barely made it to the Moon, but their name for their space travellers implies they've reached the stars, which is ridiculous.

/

COSMONAUT (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics/Russian Federation)
(in Russian, the name is космона́вт - kosmonavt)

Pros: More accurate. In Russian, cosmos means space as the... well, space outside the Earth's atmosphere. Plus, the first man to space was called cosmonaut, so here's your precedent.
Cons: Tainted with COMMUNISM!

TAIKONAUT (People's Republic of China)

Pros: Uhm... to its defence I should mention this isn't the term used in Chinese language. But it is the one used in English-language Chinese news and it is now relatively well known, unlike the alternatives.
Cons: It sounds funny, it somehow evokes pictures of toys in my mind.

VYOMANAUT or GAGANAUT (Republic of India)

Pros: India is yet to fly a man to space, so they still have time to come up with something which (a) can be pronounced, (b) doesn't sound like it came from Bollywood.
Cons: Are you kidding me? It's even funnier than the Chinese version, and like it it is an ugly hybrid of their native language and Greek. Be original, sheesh.

SPATIONAUT (French Republic)

Pros: Comes from Latin (spatium = space), very accurate.
Cons: The French don't have an independent access to space and even if they acquire it in the future, it will most likely be a part of wider European effort. Time for euronauts, perhaps?

So, may the vote begin

 

[CurtSibling]

"What's the best name for space travellers?"

DALEK FODDER.

 

[azzaman333]

Nerds.

 

[Winner]

Hardly

 

[holy king]

Heroes Of The Earth People.

 

[Tee Kay]

Spellers

 

[PiMan]

SPATIONAUT (French Republic)

Pros: Comes from Latin (spatium = space), very accurate.
Cons: The French don't have an independent access to space and even if they acquire it in the future, it will most likely be a part of wider European effort. Time for euronauts, perhaps?

You mean they don't launch rockets from French Guiana?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiana_Space_Centre

 

[Tee Kay]

Edit: Never mind

 

[BCLG100]

'Spacemen'

 

[Winner]

You mean they don't launch rockets from French Guiana?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiana_Space_Centre

Uhm, I was CLEARLY talking about manned space flight. Surprisingly... in a thread that's about names for men in space

 

[bhsup]

Colonial space marines! Kidding.

Actually, I hate to admit it but I always liked the sound of cosmonaut. Has a nice ring to it.

 

[Bast]

Cons: It sounds funny, it somehow evokes pictures of toys in my mind.

China will probably fill space with its toys one day also.

 

[Stylesjl]

Human Space Farer
Target Practice
Extraterrestrial Traveller (might be confused with extraterrestrial life-form though)

 

[Cheetah]

Actually, I hate to admit it but I always liked the sound of cosmonaut. Has a nice ring to it.

That does it!

I really liked all of the names, but as Winner said, Cosmonaut is more accurate, and that was what Gagarin was titled as.

And when an upright, good American like VRWCAgent can approve of it as well, I have now made up my mind!

I will defend this opinion till my death: The proper term for space travelers is Cosmonaut. Period.

I shall soon convince the Chinese leadership that this is the proper term, and anyone who still wish to protest it will get a paid stay at a Chinese Reeducation Camp.

Edit: Oh, and Winner: Ideologies doesn't matter much. It was the captured German Nazis on each side that put the Capitalists and Communists into space.

 

[Kyriakos]

Cosmonaut is not that good a name, since the earth is part of the cosmos (which is simply the greek term for "world") and "naut" comes from the greek "nautes" which means "sailor". So any regular sailor could have been called a cosmonaut as well.

Astronaut is better, but like you said it implies that they have travelled to other stars.

Spationaut: bad, i don't like latin. Moreover latin-greek hybrids are as ugly as a nymph mixed with a hydra

The chinese and indian sound lame tbh.

 

[PiMan]

Uhm, I was CLEARLY talking about manned space flight. Surprisingly... in a thread that's about names for men in space

What is there preventing its future use for manned launches?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Keith, or Brian.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Explorers?

Colonists?

-----------
Astronaut or Cosmonaut sounds the best.

 

[JohnRM]

I call them 'Astronauts'.

 

[GenMarshall]

Astronaut of course!!!

Cons: It's a show of the typical American bravado and an overinflated ego They barely made it to the Moon, but their name for their space travellers implies they've reached the stars, which is ridiculous.

You and your anti-Americanism .