An astronaut is a professional, a person who trained for that specific job but sometimes civilians go into outer space and then they are also referred to as astronauts.
The FAI which is the 'World Air Sport Federation' says that you are in space once you are more than 100 km up in the air, but America will see you as an astronaut that undertook a spaceflight if you are 80 km away from Earth.
The "edge of space" is scientifically accepted to be 100 km (62 mi) above sea level at the 'Karman line'. As of June 2013, a total of 532 people representing 36 nations have been above the Karman Line and therefore have reached outer space.
In order for you to become an astronaut, you will have to go through extensive training and be able to face a lot of changes.
A Russian named Yuri Gagarin was the first person to ever go up in space in 1961. He went in the spacecraft called Vostok 1 and he went around Earth 81 times - how do you think he felt? You can read more of Yuri here.
The first woman in space was Soviet Valentina Tereshkova, in 1963. She orbited Earth for nearly 3 days aboard Vostok 6.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men on the Moon in 1969. Including them, 12 men have walked on the moon.
Throughout spaceflight history 18 astronauts have lost their lives during four tragic space flights. 11 other people have lost their lives training for spaceflight.
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