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The average age of space travellers has been on the rise since cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin first blasted off in 1961, while the overwhelming majority of the 566 people that have been to space are male, according to a new analysis.

Svetlana Komarova at McGill University in Canada wanted to understand more about how space flight affects bones, but found that data on spacefarers wasn鈥檛 compiled into any central scientific database 鈥� such lists have only been put together by space enthusiast websites. 鈥淥nly fans care,鈥� she says.

Her team began to gather information from various government space agencies around the world and decided to analyse the demographics of spacefarers. This revealed that the average age of those who have been to space has increased from 34 in the 1960s to 45 in the 2010s.

Komarova says this may reflect that in the beginning of space travel, we sent younger, stronger types as we were mostly interested in how space might affect humans. Once we understood it was relatively safe, the cost of missions meant an increased desire for experience and knowledge.

鈥淭he demands of space travel now require very highly educated people,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he requirements for astronauts are driven by what they do in the [space] station, and the requirements are going up and up.鈥�

Only 64 of all space travellers have been female 鈥� about 11 per cent 鈥� though the proportion has increased since the 1980s. The average age of women in space hasn鈥檛 increased as much as it has for men, which Komarova speculates could be due to older women experiencing menopause. This can lead to bone loss, and since spending time in space also weakens bones, putting older women in space may present a higher risk than sending younger women or older men, she says.

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