Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson may not be ‘astronauts’

Branson reached the edge of space on July 11 in his piloted Virgin Galactic VSS Unity spaceplane.

In a surprise twist, billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, who recently blasted into space, may not fulfil the criteria to be “astronauts” yet, according to new guidelines issued by the US government, media reports say.

The FAA has tightened its definition of the word “astronaut”, making it harder for people like Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson to be called commercial astronauts. (Reuters)

A policy order from the US government’s largest transportation agency, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), added three new requirements to qualify for “commercial space astronaut wings”.

The guidelines state that the spacecraft must meet basic FAA standards, as well as reach 80km above the Earth’s surface. Both Branson and Bezos have accomplished these guidelines, the BBC reported.

However, the third rule is where things take a turn for the billionaires.

The order states that the astronauts must demonstrate “activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety”.

This would mean that space tourists like them may not necessarily qualify. According to the BBC report, these changes are the first since the FAA wings programme was started in 2004.

The rules were updated on July 20, the same day that Bezos made his trip to space on the autonomous Blue Origin rocket.

Branson reached the edge of space on July 11 in his piloted Virgin Galactic VSS Unity spaceplane.

The FAA said it made the changes to “protect public safety during commercial space flights”, the BBC report said.

All hope is not lost yet, as Branson and Bezos can still be given honorary wings at the discretion of the FAA. Those who want wings also have to be nominated, the FAA has said.

The only other two ways of earning astronaut wings in the US are through the military and Nasa, BBC said.