Want to be an Astronaut? Learn How to Speak Russian

You may wonder: “Shouldn’t Cosmonauts have to speak English?” I expect most of them learned it long before joining the space program.

In fact the situation is not symmetric. American astronauts as well as Russian Cosmonauts fly to space from a Russian-speaking site (the Baikonur Cosmodrome) in a Russian vehicle (the Soyuz).