Jeff Bezos did a space flight last Tuesday, but he can’t officially call himself an astronaut. On the day of Bezos’ space flight, the rules for that formal recognition were tightened.
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It is the American space agency NASA and the bureau of the American aviation authorities, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), who each determine for themselves who can officially call themselves an astronaut. NASA’s rules for this are pretty strict. Anyone who has completed the official astronaut training there and has completed at least 1,000 flight hours will receive ‘wings’: an official astronaut pin in recognition of the special space status.
Until recently, the rules of the FAA were a lot more flexible: anyone who has completed flight training and has been in the air for a minimum of 80 kilometers – the limit where space begins according to the FAA – can live as an astronaut. But last Tuesday FAA changed the rules. Those who go into space can only call themselves an astronaut if actions were performed during the flight “that were essential for public safety, or have contributed to the safety of human space flights”. Bezos does not comply, the entire space journey of the former Amazon boss and his three fellow travelers was controlled from a flight center on Earth.
Whether Bezos’ space competitor Richard Branson can officially go through life as an astronaut is not entirely clear. The British billionaire flew into space on Sunday 11 July and, in his own words, conducted research into ‘cabin conditions, seating comfort, weightlessness and a view of Earth’.
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