The association sidestepped the “astronaut” quandary by using the term “space travelers” instead. “So we thought about something, you know, as a universal pin, because that seems only fair that other countries ought to have something to wear as well.” “But none of the other agencies have anything like that,” Mr. NASA has given pins to its astronauts since the earliest days of the space program. For those who reach orbit, there’s a variation, adding a circle that indicates they have been around the planet.Ībout six years ago, Michael López-Alegría, then president of the association’s United States chapter, and Andrew Turnage, the group’s executive director, started discussing the idea of such pins. One design - an up-and-down chevron topped with a five-pointed star - is for people who go on short suborbital flights. In addition, an international organization of past and present astronauts, the Association of Space Explorers, has created pins to recognize everyone who goes to space. In the end, it may not matter what the government thinks.īoth Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin have each created their own astronaut pins to bestow on customers, who are likely to pay at least hundreds of thousands of dollars per flight. The honorary awardees would not have to meet all of the usual requirements. criteria also, for the first time, creates honorary commercial astronaut wings “to individuals who demonstrated extraordinary contribution or beneficial service to the commercial human spaceflight industry.” Virgin Galactic is making the case that they were crew members, performing tasks to evaluate how the spacecraft experience will feel for future customers, although the company is still assessing the implications of the revised criteria. Branson and the other two first-time space fliers on the July 11 Virgin Galactic flight. commercial astronaut wings.Ī Virgin Galactic spokesman said the company has started the paperwork to obtain F.A.A. Bezos and the other passengers for the F.A.A. A Blue Origin spokeswoman declined to say whether the company would nominate Mr. The New Shepard passengers do not appear to have performed such activities. added a new requirement for the astronaut wings: “Demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human spaceflight safety.” The crew definition, however, was vague enough that one could wonder whether a passenger could qualify as a contractor, and whether some of what they did could fall under the “other operation” part of the definition of crew. (That didn’t stop the foursome from having custom astronaut wings pinned to their flight suits last Tuesday.) Bezos and the other three passengers - his brother Mark Mary Wallace Funk, an 82-year-old aviation pioneer and Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old Dutch student - appear to fall short of the criteria to be classified as flight crew and may not be eligible for the F.A.A. Bezos’ company, Blue Origin, is entirely automated, and all that the passengers had to do is enjoy the up-and-down ride last Tuesday, which lasted not much more than 10 minutes. To qualify for the F.A.A.’s distinction, a person had to reach an altitude of 50 miles - reflecting the earlier United States Air Force practice - and one had to be considered as part of “the flight crew,” which the federal agency defines as:Īny employee or independent contractor of a licensee, transferee, or permittee, or of a contractor or subcontractor of a licensee, transferee, or permittee, who performs activities in the course of that employment or contract directly relating to the launch, re-entry, or other operation of or in a launch vehicle or re-entry vehicle that carries human beings.Įveryone else who goes to space is, in the F.A.A.’s view, just a “spaceflight participant,” not an astronaut.īy contrast, the New Shepard spacecraft built by Mr. bestowed the first commercial astronaut wings on Michael Melvill and Brian Binnie, the pilots who flew the two winning SpaceShipOne flights. The winning design was a space plane called SpaceShipOne, and the F.A.A.
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