Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos Not Yet Astronauts: The FAA Has Changed the Rules

In the past two weeks, we’ve made two successful attempts to travel to the edge of the universe. Usually this is determined by the so-called Karman line at an altitude of 100 km, but there are efforts to reduce it to 80 km (this was enough, for example, to get the title of cosmonaut in the Cosmonaut Wings program). Virgo Galaxy Richard Bronsona Just bypass the bottom, in height 86 km. He has not yet looked beyond the generally accepted limits of the universe. Jeff Bezos However, Blue Origin has exceeded the standard limit of 100 km and reached a height of up to 107 km. However, the FAA does not want to assign the astronaut title to any of them, including some of the crew. It was Tuesday, July 20, when Jeff Bezos flew in, she changed the rules.

FAA’s Commercial Astronaut Wings Program It was founded in 2004 and is the first amendment to the rules since its inception. It is no longer sufficient to cross the 50-mile (80 km) mark, but for the astronaut title it is necessary to “perform activities during flight which are necessary to public safety or to contribute to the safety of manned space flights”. Basically, he does not want to give the title of astronaut to anyone who just looks at the universe, but only to give it to someone who does something useful. Space tourists will be out of luck.

The awards received by Branson and Bezos were only their company’s awards, but not the official “astronaut wings” titles given by the FAA. However, Branson and Bezos don’t have to throw flint into the rye just yet, as they rely on honorary versions of the titles, which would be appropriate either way (they could be awarded for an exceptional contribution to commercial spaceflight).

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