From Astronauts to Astro-Noughts

[ORAC]

How badly will this damage Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin’s business?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/america-strips-space-tourists-of-astronaut-status-hbd2m80c3

America reduces space tourists to astro-noughts

Passengers on Sir Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos’s suborbital thrill rides will not earn official status as astronauts solely for going to space, after the US government changed the rules to protect the kudos of the title.

The Federal Aviation Administration revised its criteria for awarding its prestigious Commercial Space Astronaut Wings on the day Bezos and three others flew into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket and nine days after Sir Richard Branson went there and back on his Virgin Galactic rocketplane.

The change leaves open a loophole that could allow Branson, Bezos and their crewmates to still qualify, but could block their future customers, including research scientists, from earning the honour.

“In order to maintain the prestige of Commercial Space Astronaut Wings, the FAA may further refine the eligibility requirements at any time it deems appropriate,” the FAA said, amid a rapidly changing landscape for the commercial space industry.

The programme was created in 2004 after Scaled Composites, an aerospace company in California, sent SpaceShipOne, a privately crewed rocketship, across the space boundary, becoming the first to do so and earning commercial astronaut wings for co-pilots Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie.

In 2018, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, piloted by flying ace Mark Stucky and former government astronaut CJ Sturckow, became the second…..

The programme honours those who have commanded, piloted or served as an active crew member on a privately funded spacecraft on an FAA-licensed flight above 50 miles altitude.

Crew members must now additionally “demonstrate activities during flight that were essential to public safety or contributed to human space flight safety”, potentially excluding those who ride purely for thrills.

[ShyTorque]

Flying in the cabin doesn’t make you a pilot.

[treadigraph]

Space Tourist. Though the VG and BO, impressive feats though they are, are hardly tours.

Friend said yesterday "if you had the cash would you do it?" No but if a few orbits of our planet was possible and I could afford that I would...

[Less Hair]

It's a bit like airline passengers would want their own pilot wings after each flight in the cabin. However the first capsule astronauts were exactly the same although higher pre-qualified and taking much higher risks. They would be called canned meat, apes did the first ride and such back then.
Funny how rich people still want this right stuff aura. Is it for the car keys-chain and the next pub visit?

[TukwillaFlyboy]

These stunts , which is what they are , are the emblematic examples of all that is wrong with the Facebook/Instagram/ Twitter universe.
They mean precisely nothing.
Musk wants to go to Mars.
And people believe him.
Let’s see a Delta-v flight plan for a return mission.
Uhmmm…… ? Silence ?
It ain’t happening.
Only gets traction because the media are stupid.

[ZFT]

Given the opportunity I would leap at the chance. I can't understand anyone who wouldn't but each to their own.

[TukwillaFlyboy]

Given the opportunity I would leap at the chance. I can't understand anyone who wouldn't but each to their own.

Really ?
For 10 minutes ?
Your pension fund must be doing better than mine.
With everything else thats going on in the world ?
Its decadence, pure and unalloyed.

[ZFT]

Really ?
For 10 minutes ?
Your pension fund must be doing better than mine.
With everything else thats going on in the world ?
Its decadence, pure and unalloyed.

Yep for those few minutes.

​​​​​​

[no sponsor]

My view is Bezos should get them. He’s funded the operation, he was the first passenger to prove it was safe, and has said himself the New Shepard is just a stepping stone to greater things, such as orbital flights. He used his own money to recover the Apollo 11 F1 engines, and is a confirmed space nut. I think both he and Musk will be seen by history as space pioneers in the years to come.

But to be honest I don’t think he cares about wings from the FAA.

[wiggy]

However the first capsule astronauts were exactly the same although higher pre-qualified and taking much higher risks. They would be called canned meat, apes did the first ride and such back then.


That was the view supposedly of Yeager and others but whilst it might apply to the Vostok cosmonauts there was quite a bit of “pilot stuff” needed by some of the Mercury astronauts to ensure successful flights……

In any event they were as you say all mindful of the risks..

[H Peacock]

If you don't drive the spaceship, then you're not really an astronaut!

Payload specialists, even our Tim Peake; did they actually control or manoeuvre the vehicle?? Not sure about the Russians, but apart from the 2 peeps in the front of the Shuttle, the rest are just ‘crew’ or pax. 🤔

[Easyheat]

NASA defines an astronaut as a qualified crew member, meaning that you have passed their selected program. So it doesn’t mean that you actually have been in space, nor that you will ever go into space. It could be that you are waiting for a flight assignment, but maybe will never get the opportunity.

[clareprop]

Is it suggested that Branson, Bezos et al have awarded themselves FAA Space Astronaut wings? If a commercial organisation wants to call people who have ridden to space (or their version of it) in one of their craft an astronaut and give them wings, who can stop them? I doubt NASA would be confused by the difference between FAA Commercial Space Astronaut and Virgin Galactic Astronaut any more than a captain of an airliner would be confused with a PPL.

[Less Hair]

As kids we all had Pan Am's Junior Clipper Pilot wings.

[TURIN]

These stunts , which is what they are , are the emblematic examples of all that is wrong with the Facebook/Instagram/ Twitter universe.
They mean precisely nothing.
Musk wants to go to Mars.
And people believe him.
Let’s see a Delta-v flight plan for a return mission.
Uhmmm…… ? Silence ?
It ain’t happening.
Only gets traction because the media are stupid.
You really think that the entire production and testing facility at Boca Chica is driven by social media 'likes'?
There is plenty of info re deltaV and flight plans. If you care to look.

https://youtu.be/8kRkvc5z0n8

[B2N2]

The Federal Aviation Administration revised its criteria

Also from now on you can only call yourself a FAA Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI) if you do something meaningful towards….well safety.

[etudiant]

Also from now on you can only call yourself a FAA Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI) if you do something meaningful towards….well safety.

Very cruel!

[Pugilistic Animus]

Given the opportunity I would leap at the chance. I can't understand anyone who wouldn't but each to their own.
I ain't going to CATO...no space flight for PA:\

[ZFT]

I had to look that up. Thanks, I learnt something.

[MENELAUS]

It was always said when Branson was pulled out of the water after the failed Atlantic Challenger effort that there was one crew member missing, and that was Chay Blyth’s dog , to bite the grinning pullover if he touched anything. So it may have been a bonus that he didn’t actually touch anything during the “flight”. As for profligate wastes of money, ask Don Cameron of Cameron balloons how out of pocket he was, and remains, after the other stunt that RB was involved with.

[Dorf]

Really, what is the purpose of sending humans to the Moon or Mars? Yes it's cool and undoubtedly a wonderful experience for the participants, but really? It's many times more efficient to send machines to do the science and find out what's up there. Well, you say we need to take the first steps to become a multi planet species, because Earth will eventually become unlivable. Maybe, but at $10K/pound just to lift something into Earth orbit, colonization of other planets won't be happening until we can figure out something better than chemical rockets. How many will raise their hand to go live on Mars or the Moon permanently?

There's a big race on between two billionaires to get back to the Moon, driven solely by ego. They'll get there eventually. What exactly will those astronauts do besides high 5 each other, take some pretty pictures, and confirm it's the same grey dirt and rocks as 50 years ago?

[TURIN]

Dorf, may I politely suggest you do some research on reusable spacecraft, in particular SpaceX Starship and the Blue Origin New Glenn.
Also, the cost of sending items to LEO. In particular the relative costs of traditional and wasteful launchers such as ULA or Ariane, then compare that to SpaceX Falcon 9, reusable boosters that can and have been used ten times.

[Dorf]

Dorf, may I politely suggest you do some research on reusable spacecraft, in particular SpaceX Starship and the Blue Origin New Glenn.
Also, the cost of sending items to LEO. In particular the relative costs of traditional and wasteful launchers such as ULA or Ariane, then compare that to SpaceX Falcon 9, reusable boosters that can and have been used ten times.

Ok then, $5K/pound. My question remains, what do they do when they get there that robots can't do 10X more efficiently?

[TURIN]

Ok then, $5K/pound. My question remains, what do they do when they get there that robots can't do 10X more efficiently?
Survive an extinction level event on Earth?