How Astronauts Learn Languages Fast

What language do astronauts speak in space? 

If you’re American or British, you probably answered, “English, right?” 

But wait. If you lived in China, you’re likely to say, “Taikonauts speak Mandarin.” However, in Russia, you’d counter with, “Cosmonauts speak Russian, of course!”

All those answers are correct, to a degree. But there’s a whole lot more to the “languages in space” debate than first meets the eye—or should that be meets the ear?

So, what language do astronauts speak in space? And, if it’s not their native language, how do they get up to speed fast?

Time to discover how astronauts learn languages fast!

Prefer watching videos to reading? Hit play on the video version of this post below. Otherwise, keep scrolling to read about how astronauts learn languages fast!

I Sent A Letter To NASA 

I figured the best way to learn about astronauts and their languages was to go straight to the source.

So, I wrote to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (you probably know it as NASA) and asked to interview an astronaut. 

They wrote back saying, “No way, Jose!” 

To be fair, they actually said, “Due to…other obligations, an astronaut is unavailable to support your event at this time.” But you and I both know that’s a long-winded way to say “no!”

Fortunately, there’s a ton of information about astronauts around. NASA even has its own YouTube channel. So does the European Space Agency. Since I couldn’t talk to an astronaut, I went hunting for answers on the web. Here’s what I learned.

First In Space

Back in the 1960s, the Soviet Union (a Russian-led group of European and Asian countries from 1922-1991) and the USA were literally racing to be the first people in space. 

Yuri Gagarin won the first leg for the USSR when he rocketed out of the Earth’s atmosphere on April 12th, 1961. We’re used to seeing images of Earth nowadays.

Still, the footage of Gagarin’s flight gave us our first glimpse of space and showed us how blue and beautiful our planet looks from up there. 

The US followed soon after, launching Alan Shepherd’s rocket ship on May 5th. Since then, we’ve sent hundreds of highly-skilled astronauts and cosmonauts from many countries into space. 

Where Do Astronauts Go In Space?

Well, apart from the moon—we haven’t been there since 1972— these days, astronauts mostly fly to a space station. 

There’ve been 12 space stations launched over the years, but at the moment, only two are fully operational; the ISS—the International Space Station—and Tiangong, which was recently launched by China. 

The ISS has been a cooperative programme between the European, United States, Russian, Canadian and Japanese space agencies since 2000.

Astronauts from many countries spend about six months there, working on experiments that can only be done in space and keeping the station going. 

Getting To Outer Space

Although the US launched the SpaceX programme in 2020, most trips to the ISS currently take place in a Soyuz Spacecraft.

Manned Soyuz crafts have been running since 1967. According to the European Space Agency, its “the longest operational human spacecraft programme in the history of space exploration.” 

So, most astronauts go to Russia and train in the Soyuz programme before they can have any chance of making it to the International Space Station. 

When you sit inside a Soyuz capsule, you first notice that there isn’t much room in there; only 4 cubic metres—about the size of four refrigerators.

Next, you realise that the control and navigation system is written in Russian. Not surprising! It is a Russian spaceship, after all. 

But visiting astronauts don’t get a free ride up in a Soyuz; they must be part of the flight crew. There’s just no room for passengers in that three-person capsule. 

The trip commander sits in the middle and is always a Russian pilot. The co-pilot is usually an international astronaut and sits on the left, while the flight engineer sits on the right. 

The whole flight is run by mission control in Russia, and everyone must speak, read and even think in Russian throughout. 

Space Travel Isn’t A Walk In The Park

Rocket launches are risky at the best of times. Shooting up at 1,640 kilometres (1,020 miles) per hour in a capsule attached to a flaming rocket is highly stressful. You won’t have time to think in your language and mentally translate it into Russian.

They can’t use interpreters, either. Not only would that take too long, there’s also a communication delay as the craft shoots further away from Earth.  

All in all, it’s essential that everyone on board speaks Russian well enough to cope in every emergency.

One of the most challenging moments comes as the craft approaches and docks with the ISS. These manoeuvers are controlled by the astronauts in real time. In other words, they’re manual procedures so it’s not hard to make a mistake. 

“Slow down, “accelerate” and “switch to manual mode” are just three of the hundred pages worth of commands that pilots might hear as they try to dock with the ISS. 

Maybe you’re not surprised then, that the first language all astronauts have to know is Russian.

How Astronauts Learn Languages Fast: Learning Russian

Spaceships are highly technical machines so anyone who wants to become an astronaut needs to prove their ability to master complicated things, including learning languages.

If you’re chosen for astronaut training, you start off at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. There you’ll undertake two years of basic training including—you guessed it—learning Russian! 

This may sound similar to the training undertaken by other fast language learners, such as the US military, the French Foreign Legion or Mormon Missionaries.

Trainee astronauts begin learning the language immediately. And even though they get tons of practice, many say that they found it pretty tough. 

Sometimes they’re in simulators learning how to react in all kinds of space emergencies. During those sessions everyone communicates in Russian, just as they would in a real crisis. You can imagine how motivating that is. 

To finish this part of the programme, all trainees must pass the challenging ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) exam before they can move on. 

Language Lessons Get Even Harder

Now they get intensive one-on-one classes with a Russian instructor. That’s anything from one lesson every couple of weeks to four per week.

Instructors focus on communication first and foremost, because understanding spoken Russian is paramount for astronauts. 

Naturally, “space Russian” is not the same as the ordinary Russian you’ll learn in a StoryLearning course. It’s technical stuff, including all manner of obscure words and acronyms—things you need to know when you’re flying a spaceship.  

(I’m pretty sure I’d want to know exactly what’s going on if I had a sudden spate of Russian blasting through my spaceship’s speakers.)

Total Immersion

Anyone who makes it through the 50-or so weeks of training in the US plus another 40 or so weeks in Russia, Europe and Japan can probably communicate in Russian reasonably well.

However, “reasonably well” is not competent enough for working in space. So if you’re lucky enough to be assigned to a mission, NASA will send you to live with a family in Moscow for six or seven weeks. 

Then, of course, you also spend heaps of time hanging out with your cosmonaut team mates. All in all, foreign astronauts get a massive boost from this total immersion in the Russian language and culture.  

Star City Beckons

Don’t worry, I’m not suddenly going all “Star Wars” on you. There really is a place called Star City—although it used to be called Military Unit 26266, which shows you how secret it was back then.

Star City (also less imaginatively known as the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre) is where astronauts get even more training in that technical space language they’ll need during lift-off, docking, un-docking and re-entry procedures. 

And it’s the only place astronauts can take their final rigorous training with their crew in an actual Soyuz module. 

“It…feels a lot more real when you’re sitting in the Soyuz… going through the whole launch and landing sequence. You can feel that you’re getting close to the (launch) date and it’s very, very exciting!” 

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen

All the controls and signs are in Russian. So is every conversation leading up to the final exam. That takes place in the simulator where eagle-eyed examiners scrutinise the astronaut’s every action or word. 

Do Cosmonauts Have To Learn Another Language Too?

Yes they do! At a bare minimum astronauts must be competent in English and Russian because both languages are spoken on the ISS.

But, astronauts don’t just come from the US and Russia, and many countries have their own space agencies. So all those astronauts must be able to speak English and Russian, too. 

Why are language and culture skills so vital? 

NASA astronauts go all over the world to train and see that as a vital part of their mission 

“More than just the languages, you have to understand the culture so that we can work better as a team, both with our ground team and on the space station. The world is getting smaller and you have to be more worldly. You have to work on your language skills in order to find your place in it.”

Flight Engineer Jack Fischer, aboard the ISS in 2017

You’ve probably guessed by now that there’s another language onboard the ISS.

They call it “Runglish” a unique blend of Russian and English known only to astronauts who’ve lived and worked on the International Station. Runglish changes depending on the nationality of the astronauts on board at the time. 

I think that development was inevitable! 

How Astronauts Learn Languages Fast: It Really Is Rocket Science

Times are changing for rocketmen (sorry, Elton) and women in the 21st century. 

Russia has said it wants to leave the ISS and launch their own, largely unmanned, space station in 2028. 

Meanwhile the European Space station has withdrawn its plans to send their Mars Rover up with Roskosmos (the Russian Federal Space Agency), and Russia has stopped launching Soyuz from its French Guiana site. 

Then, of course, the US has Artemis—which aims to establish a long-term presence on the moon by 2025. And both America and China have set their sights on Mars… 

All in all, if you want to leave the planet one day, the prospects are looking up. 

Want to start learning Russian, just in case? We can help with that! 

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.