New record! 17 people are in Earth orbit at the same time right now

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By Robert Z. Pearlman
last updated

The 17 travelers hail from five different countries.

six people aboard china's tiangong space station give a thumbs-up while looking at the camera.
China's Shenzhou 15 and Shenzhou 16 crews join together aboard the country's Tiangong space station on Tuesday, May 30, 2023. The six taikonauts include Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming Zhang Lu, Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao. (Image credit: China Manned Space Agency)

The total number of people in Earth orbit is now at a record high, though only for a short time.

With the launch of China's three-person Shenzhou 16 mission on Monday (May 29) at 9:31 p.m. EDT (0131 GMT or 9:31 a.m. Beijing Time on May 30), the population in orbit grew to 17. 

The previous record, set during the privately funded Inspiration4 mission in September 2021, was 14 people.

Related: The most extreme human spaceflight records

The current count is comprised by four crews:

  • Shenzhou 16 (three people) — Chinese taikonauts Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao, now aboard China's Tiangong space station.
  • Shenzhou 15 (three people) — Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu, who have been aboard Tiangong since November 2022 and who are expected to return to Earth in early June.
  • Expedition 69 (seven people) — Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Andrey Fedyaev of Russia's federal space corporate Roscosmos; astronauts Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen and Warren "Woody" Hoburg of NASA; and Emirati astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on the International Space Station (ISS).
  • Axiom-2 (four people) — Axiom Space astronaut Peggy Whitson, private astronaut John Shoffner and Saudi Arabian astronauts Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, who departed the ISS aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon "Freedom" to return to Earth on Tuesday (May 30).

The Ax-2 crew is scheduled to splash down off the coast of Florida at about 11:04 p.m. EDT on Tuesday (0304 GMT on Wednesday, May 31), leaving 13 people in Earth orbit.

Nine astronauts pose aboard the international space station.

The five of the six Expedition 69 crew members pose for a photo with the four Axiom Space Ax-2 astronauts before the latter departed the International Space Station on Tuesday, May 30, 2023. The astronauts and cosmonauts pictured include Sultan Alneyadi, Peggy Whitson, Ali Alqarni, John Shoffner, Rayyanah Barnawi, Dmitri Petelin, Stephen Bowen, Andrey Fedyaev, Sergey Prokopyev and Woody Hoburg. (Not pictured is Frank Rubio.)  (Image credit: NASA)

By coincidence, the current record includes the 600th person to enter Earth orbit. Ax-2 mission specialist Barnawi became the sexcentenarian orbital space traveler, as well as the first Saudi woman in space, when she and her crew launched on May 21. 

The record for most people in space (rather than just Earth orbit) at once was reset recently, too, and lasted an even shorter amount of time. For about 5 minutes, there were 20 people off the planet. 

That record was set by the six members of Virgin Galactic Unity 25 SpaceShipTwo crew, whose suborbital spaceflight coincided with three Chinese taikonauts living aboard Tiangong and 11 astronauts, cosmonauts and spaceflight participants on board the International Space Station. 

  • SpaceShipTwo Unity 25 (six people): Michael Masucci, CJ Sturckow, Beth Moses, Luke Mays, Jamila Gilbert and Christopher Huie.
  • Shenzhou 15 (three people)  — Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu.
  • Expedition 69 (seven people) - U.S. astronauts Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen and Warren "Woody" Hoburg; Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Andrey Fedyaev; and Sultan AlNeyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
  • Axiom Space Ax-2 (four people) - Peggy Whitson, John Stoffner, Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi.
Related stories:

— Axiom Space's Ax-2: What to know about the 2nd private astronaut mission to the space station

— International Space Station — Everything you need to know

— Information about China's Tiangong space station

The previous record for the most people in space at once was set during Blue Origin's New Shepard NS-19 suborbital flight on Dec. 11, 2021, when there were briefly 19 people off Earth.

Since 2000, there has been a continuous presence of humans in space, dating back to the first crew to take up residency on the International Space Station. 

China completed assembly of its three-module Tiangong space station late last year. The Shenzhou 16 crew is the station's fifth contingent since 2021.

This article was updated to reflect the most recent record for the most people in space (versus in Earth orbit) at once as set on May 25, 2023.

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Robert Z. Pearlman
Robert Z. Pearlman
collectSPACE.com Editor, Space.com Contributor

Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of collectSPACE.com, an online publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for Space.com and co-author of "Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018. He previously developed online content for the National Space Society and Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, helped establish the space tourism company Space Adventures and currently serves on the History Committee of the American Astronautical Society, the advisory committee for The Mars Generation and leadership board of For All Moonkind. In 2009, he was inducted into the U.S. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History.