nat'lnauts

i like yahoo answers. it seems that every instance of "d'yaver wonder why..." has already been asked an answered.

my question was "what is the difference between an astronaut and a cosmonaut?" has been answered dozens of times:

Their nationality:
The difference is merely nominal to differenciate [sic] the space explorers of either side of the iron curtain (Space Race was one of the most remarkable chapters of the Cold War). Thus, Astronauts (In greek 'Navigators of the stars') were those coming from the USA alignment, and Cosmonauts ('Navigators of the universe') were the ones from the Soviet bloc.

i also learned that chinese spacefolk are called taikonauts.

[Difference between cosmonaut and astronaut? via Yahoo Answers]