Can a person who travels into space be considered an “astronaut”? Well officially, it seems not …
In the United States there is a traditional ceremony in which all astronauts are received His wings, a kind of emblem issued by the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States (FAA).
These days in the press, and even in the press releases of the space companies, both Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson have been described as astronauts, by the fact of traveling to the limits of outer space.
Unfortunately for them, it seems that it is not so, at least officially. The FAA published a statement a few days ago in which clarifies the official definition of astronaut.
The FAA and NASA, which only have authority in the United States, are the only agencies that consider that outer space begins at 80 km high. So for them, both Bezos and Branson have traveled to outer space on their recent space travels.
On the other hand, for the International Federation of Aeronautics, which is the international organization to which all the countries on Earth belong, space begins at the Kármán Line, about 100 km high. Line that Bezos surpassed, but not Branson.
Technicalities aside, the North American FAA has changed these days a rule from 2004, to specify the definition of astronaut.
According to this body, from now on they are only astronauts space travelers who have exceeded 80 km in height, and who also “demonstrated in-flight activities that were essential to public safety or contributed to the safety of human spaceflight“.
Therefore according to this new definition, none of the passengers on recent Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic flights can be considered astronautsWell, during the flight all they did was look out the window.
Although, as usually happens in these cases, the law is made, the trap is made … Let’s not be surprised if on an upcoming flight we see one of these space tourists tighten a screw on the ship, to earn their astronaut wings …
Joking aside, it seems that space tourism is beginning to change official conventions about space, which until now were a privilege of the military or scientists.