It’s been 2 years already that I visited the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral located on Merritt Island on the east coast of Florida. I especially paid attention to all the training that astronauts must endure and successfully complete. It should go without saying that I was very impressed. Some of the training was displayed on video.
Each astronaut is considered a hero because, IMO, you have to be very brave just to be launched into space. There’s always a possibility of being incinerated on liftoff, or when the rockets go through separation like Soyuz 11, which the crew was destroyed.
I would have liked to been selected to go into orbit or now, travel to the space station. I never applied because I knew I would not qualify, but I can dream. If given the opportunity to go, I think I would have taken the opportunity.