“The last FAA guidelines under the Commercial Space Astronaut Wings Program were clear: Crewmembers who travel into space must have ‘demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety,’” Duffy wrote. “The crew who flew to space this week on an automated flight by Blue Origin were brave and glam, but you cannot identify as an astronaut. They do not meet the FAA astronaut criteria.”
Edit: I don’t really care if Bezos, Shatner, Perry and Billionaire sidepiece can’t call themselves astronauts. Why would anyone want that for them? I don’t even think Shatner has called himself that.
If someone from the Trump administration says the sky is blue you should look outside to confirm
This is a pretty striking statement.
For starters the Federal Aviation Administration, an agency within the US Department of Transportation Duffy leads, has previously said it will take no part in determining whether people who fly on suborbital flights are astronauts. The agency makes this clear on its human spaceflight page, stating: “The FAA no longer designates anyone as an ‘astronaut.’ In addition, the FAA does not define where space begins.”
To step back just a little bit, the FAA created a commercial “Astronaut Wings” program back in 2004 to recognize the two pilots of SpaceShipOne, Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie, who flew the vehicle above 50 statute miles (80 km). After that time, the program recognized private citizens who flew on Virgin Galactic’s Unity spacecraft, Blue Origin’s New Shepard, and SpaceX’s orbital Crew Dragon vehicle. You flew, and you got astronaut wings.
Then, in December 2021, the agency stopped issuing wings. “With the advent of the commercial space tourism era, starting in 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration will now recognize individuals who reach space on its website instead of issuing Commercial Space Astronaut Wings,” the agency said. “Any individual who is on an FAA-licensed or permitted launch and reaches 50 statute miles above the surface of the Earth will be listed on the site.”
Sanchez, Perry, and the others are recognized on this site today.
I’ve now seen 3 completely contradictory definitions of what an astronaut it. 1 by ESA, 1 by the FAA, and 1 by a dictionary. Clearly no one actually knows what an astronaut is exactly, and what the exact minimum requirements are for an astronaut to be called an astronaut. What everyone seem to at least agree on is that part of what makes an astronaut, is in some capacity to visit space.
Edit: I don’t really care if Bezos, Shatner, Perry and Billionaire sidepiece can’t call themselves astronauts. Why would anyone want that for them? I don’t even think Shatner has called himself that.
If someone from the Trump administration says the sky is blue you should look outside to confirm
I’ve now seen 3 completely contradictory definitions of what an astronaut it. 1 by ESA, 1 by the FAA, and 1 by a dictionary. Clearly no one actually knows what an astronaut is exactly, and what the exact minimum requirements are for an astronaut to be called an astronaut. What everyone seem to at least agree on is that part of what makes an astronaut, is in some capacity to visit space.