Jeff Bezos is officially an astronaut, but he’ll be the last to get wings | life

Is it enough to go to space to become an astronaut? It’s a debate that’s been debated for months, and the FAA will cut its losses.

Until now, Being an astronaut had a lot of advantages. You had to overcome years of training and learning, to be able to travel to International Space Stationor to the moon.

But nowadays you just have to board a special rocket, and within 10 minutes you’re out into space and back on Earth. It’s so simple that even a 90-year-old can do it.

The new ones space tourists They opened the debate: is it enough to climb 80 or 100 kilometers in a rocket comfortably seated in an armchair, to become an astronaut?

Since 2004, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has delivered the astronaut wings For anyone who travels in space.

Until a year ago it was a worthwhile adventure, because as we say a NASA or ESA astronaut spends years training and learning. But Private tourists have changed this definition.

The FAA itself published a statement a few weeks ago stating that Space tourists are not astronauts.

According to this body, from now on they are only astronauts Space travelers whose altitude exceeds 80 km, who also “Display in-flight activities that were necessary to public safety or contributed to the safety of human spaceflight“.

So according to this new definition, None of the passengers on recent Blue Origin, SpaceX or Virgin Galactic flights can be considered astronautsWell, during the flight all they did was look out the window.

It seems that this definition is not retroactive, because it is finally The Federal Aviation Administration has decided to hand over the wings of astronauts to Jeff Bezos, founder of AmazonRichard Branson, founder of Virgin and William ShatnerLegendary Captain Kirk from Star Trek. The three flew into space a few weeks ago, on Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic flights.

Of course, these three celebrities, and the rest of the special tourists of 2021, will be the last. FAA just announced who – which Withdrawal of the Astronaut Wings Program, and will no longer provide.

The reason is that this award was created to reward the pioneers, but now that space tourism is popular, it no longer makes sense.

sum 24 people received FAA astronaut wings, since 2004, if we include the above mentioned space tourists.

Private space travel changes the way we understand space, and the rules have to adapt to it.