This week\u2019s flight of the New Shepard spacecraft, NS-31, and its all-female crew has stirred up a mess of coverage, from tabloids to high-brow journalism outlets. And why not? Six women, led by superstar Katy Perry, were flying into space!<\/p>\n
By contrast, Ars Technica has been largely silent. Why? Because yet another suborbital flight on New Shepard matters little in the long arc of spaceflight history. Beyond that, I did not want to be too negative about someone else\u2019s happiness, especially since it was privately funded. Live and let live, and all of that.<\/p>\n
However, if I\u2019m being frank, this flight and its breathless promotion made me uncomfortable. Let me explain. Perhaps the most important change in spaceflight over the last two decades has been the rise of commercial spaceflight, which is bringing down the cost of access to space and marks an essential step to humanity becoming a spacefaring species. This rising tide has been spurred in large part by billionaires, particularly Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and, to a lesser extent, Richard Branson.<\/p>\n
In the summer of 2021, Branson and Bezos took flights on their own rockets. This fueled the \u201cboys and their toys\u201d and \u201cbillionaire joyrides\u201d public perception of commercial spaceflight. My issue with the NS-31 flight is that it perpetuates this perception. True, an all-women flight is definitely not boys and their toys. But consider what NS-31 really was. Bezos wanted to send his fianc\u00e9e, Lauren S\u00e1nchez, to space. And that\u2019s fine. One can imagine that she wanted some attention on her flight, so they invited Perry. And presto, a media sensation and lots of glam. But the resulting spectacle trivializes the important work of commercial space.<\/p>\n
Anyway, I decided that Ars Technica should sit this one out. If Bezos wanted to send his fianc\u00e9e and some friends into space, that was his business. We had other things to cover.<\/p>\n
,<\/p>\n
That was pretty much how things stood until Thursday evening, when the Secretary of the US Department of Transportation, Sean Duffy, shared some thoughts on the social media site X.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last FAA guidelines under the Commercial Space Astronaut Wings Program were clear: Crewmembers who travel into space must have \u2018demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety,\u2019\u201d Duffy wrote. \u201cThe crew who flew to space this week on an automated flight by Blue Origin were brave and glam, but you cannot identify as an astronaut. They do not meet the FAA astronaut criteria.\u201d<\/p>\n
So there it was: The leading US official on transportation declaring that Perry et. al. were not astronauts. This is a pretty striking statement.<\/p>\n
For starters the Federal Aviation Administration, an agency within the US Department of Transportation Duffy leads, has previously said it will take no part in determining whether people who fly on suborbital flights are astronauts. The agency makes this clear on its human spaceflight page, stating: \u201cThe FAA no longer designates anyone as an \u2018astronaut.\u2019 In addition, the FAA does not define where space begins.\u201d<\/p>\n
To step back just a little bit, the FAA created a commercial \u201cAstronaut Wings\u201d program back in 2004 to recognize the two pilots of SpaceShipOne, Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie, who flew the vehicle above 50 statute miles (80 km). After that time, the program recognized private citizens who flew on Virgin Galactic\u2019s Unity spacecraft, Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard, and SpaceX\u2019s orbital Crew Dragon vehicle. You flew, and you got astronaut wings.<\/p>\n
Then, in December 2021, the agency stopped issuing wings. \u201cWith the advent of the commercial space tourism era, starting in 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration will now recognize individuals who reach space on its website instead of issuing Commercial Space Astronaut Wings,\u201d the agency said. \u201cAny individual who is on an FAA-licensed or permitted launch and reaches 50 statute miles above the surface of the Earth will be listed on the site.\u201d<\/p>\n
,<\/p>\n
Sanchez, Perry, and the others are recognized on this site today.<\/p>\n
There has been a long-running debate in the space community about whether suborbital space tourists are astronauts or astro-nots. Within this debate, Blue Origin has claimed superiority over Virgin Galactic because its vehicle goes above the K\u00e1rm\u00e1n line, 100 km, whereas its competitor reaches an altitude of 80 to 90 km.<\/p>\n
Ars dug pretty deeply into this issue in 2019, including speaking to several \u201creal\u201d astronauts from NASA. The general consensus was that, if you strap yourself to a rocket and fly above 80 km, then you\u2019re an astronaut whether you trained for a few hours, as Blue Origin\u2019s passengers do, or a few years like NASA\u2019s pros. Whereas one can differentiate between space tourists and professionals, they\u2019re all astronauts.<\/p>\n
The bottom line is that there is no relevant federal definition of an astronaut. Duffy\u2019s own agency certainly doesn\u2019t claim responsibility for making that designation.<\/p>\n
So why did Duffy weigh in? There are a couple of plausible explanations. The first is political. Perry performed at President Biden\u2019s inauguration and later campaigned alongside Kamala Harris. Therefore, this could simply be a Trump-appointed official taking a shot at a celebrity aligned with Democrats. It might also be an offshoot of the Elon Musk and Bezos rivalry. It is not too difficult to imagine the SpaceX people in Duffy\u2019s orbit pointing out the murky waters around the definition of an astronaut.<\/p>\n
Regardless, it\u2019s not really his call. You may not like Perry\u2019s music or her association with Dr. Luke. But if she wants to call herself an astronaut, there\u2019s no one who can tell her she\u2019s not. Personally, I\u2019m happy to call her one, along with the many other amazing women who have only reached space in the last few years because of the suborbital space tourism vehicles developed by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic. The more the merrier.<\/p>\n
I find it much better to live in a world where space tourism is actually happening, rather than one in which it is not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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