Depending on your definition of where it begins, around 600 people have been to space. Would you ever want to join their ranks?

It’s risky, requires years of preparation, and isn’t for the faint of heart — but it also ranks among the most astonishing accomplishments in the history of mankind. The vast majority of astronauts, cosmonauts, and other spacefarers have returned safely, in case you’re worried about that aspect of things, but the same could be said of other extreme activities like skydiving that some people simply aren’t inclined to do. They don’t call it the final frontier for nothing.