FAA Changes Rules For How It Awards Astronaut Wings

[lakeroadster]

It's a variation the old Smith Barney Commercials.. "We get our Astronaut Wings the old fashioned way... We EARN them."

FAA changes rules for how it awards astronaut wings - and says the Blue Origin flight crew don't comply as the ship was entirely controlled from the ground.

Chimpanzee Ham in his "space suit" before flight

 

[Funkworks]

Sort of like the difference between crew and passengers (and New Shepppard had no crew, just passengers).

 

[Tech 68]

"Spam in a can..."

 

[MClark]

Need these.

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

Astronaut Tourist?
Astronaut Passenger?
Space Cargo?

 

[NateB]

I think space tourist applies, maybe even space travelers if you want a better ring to the term. One of our old pilots called us as med crew, "self loading baggage", so that would work too. They aren't astronauts any more than flying in a plane makes me a pilot.

 

[dhbarr]

That's fine, but they should give Wally hers before they change the rule for good.

 

[NateB]

That's fine, but they should give Wally hers before they change the rule for good.

I'd be okay with that. She went through all the training first making advances in the aerospace and aviation fields.

The others went for a very cool ride.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Cashtronaut

 

[BrendanH69]

Nottrunaut

Passtronaut

Payload

 

[lakeroadster]

This reminds me of the early 1980's when they started calling the fellas that dumped your garbage cans into a garbage truck "Sanitation Engineers". At that point I had just graduated from college as a Mechanical Engineer. It was a WTH moment for me.

But the 80's were indeed the beginning of the entitlement era, where the pride of earning things seemed to be replaced by trophies for loosing soccer games. At least that is how I remember it.

 

[Blast it Tom!]

I have mixed feelings. I believe Wally should get hers, unquestionably. The others, even though they were indeed "Spam in a Can", at least had the guts to get on the thing, I'll give them that much...

 

[Funkworks]

I have mixed feelings. I believe Wally should get hers, unquestionably. The others, even though they were indeed "Spam in a Can", at least had the guts to get on the thing, I'll give them that much...

I'd go wtih Astro-NOT!

 

[Blast it Tom!]

Well I grew up in the 80's and barely remember anything since then because no matter how much work I do, it's never enough. Free time, houses, stability, and weeklong vacations have been nothing but myths.

Oh yes; and while I don't want to derail us into a political fiasco, I was just commenting elsewhere how a certain former Presidential candidate and one-time college professor had written back in 2002 that "the mass entry of women into the work force has been a disaster for the average middle class family." Econ 101: enlarge the supply and the price drops. I'll leave it at than and not re-engage on the topic.

I'd go wtih Astro-NOT!

 

[RobertH3]

Maybe SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic wings can be awarded by their companies, not the FAA. Excluding Wally of course.

FAA Astronaut wings maybe should be defined by 17500mph aka LEO speed.
Cheers / Robert

 

[Funkworks]

Don't mind me, just sitting here at a coffee shop trying to solve a difficult work problem and venting outloud about anything at no one in particular.

New Sheppard reminds me of a Ferris wheel, so I'd go with "passenger".

 

[WillMarchant]

When Dennis Tito visited the ISS the term we were supposed to use was "spaceflight participant."

 

[Tech 68]

This reminds me of the early 1980's when they started calling the fellas that dumped your garbage cans into a garbage truck "Sanitation Engineers". At that point I had just graduated from college as a Mechanical Engineer. It was a WTH moment for me.

But the 80's were indeed the beginning of the entitlement era, where the pride of earning things seemed to be replaced by trophies for loosing soccer games. At least that is how I remember it.

When I was in the Air Force, working fire control, I was a "Flightline Avionics Mechanic". It wasn't until later, when I went to work for the Department of Defense, that I became an "Electronics Technician". Then one day when I was getting new tires that I noticed the gentleman doing the work wore a work shirt with a "Technician" patch... I tried to find one for myself, but never could... I just figured it would be a "snarky" way to be "cool".

 

[user 13]

Unless you are flying the thing or have trained for a particular mission that has meaning beyond just commercial high altitude tourism, then you are a passenger. Nothing more, nothing less.

As I posted before, I paid to be driven around the Nurburgring, at VERY high speed by a professional driver.
That does NOT qualify me to call myself a race car driver.

 

[Bowman]

This reminds me of the early 1980's when they started calling the fellas that dumped your garbage cans into a garbage truck "Sanitation Engineers". At that point I had just graduated from college as a Mechanical Engineer. It was a WTH moment for me.

But the 80's were indeed the beginning of the entitlement era, where the pride of earning things seemed to be replaced by trophies for loosing soccer games. At least that is how I remember it.

I'm with ya!

I used to manage teams of software developers (programmers).
They liked to be called Software Engineers but there was no licensing or certification to support that title. Many had completed a degree for "electrical engineering" but again, none held a "licensed Engineer" credential.
And the willingness to hack, VS plan, design, build, test supported the lack of discipline. More of a "try this" approach that most of the current methodologies say is better.

I'm glad I retired!

 

[Bowman]

When I was in the Air Force, working fire control, I was a "Flightline Avionics Mechanic". It wasn't until later, when I went to work for the Department of Defense, that I became an "Electronics Technician". Then one day when I was getting new tires that I noticed the gentleman doing the work wore a work shirt with a "Technician" patch... I tried to find one for myself, but never could... I just figured it would be a "snarky" way to be "cool".

Ask that "technician" if they can overhaul an automatic transmission for you, or rebuild an alternator.

 

[afadeev]

Astronaut Tourist?
Astronaut Passenger?
Space Cargo?

Actro-Nut ?

They aren't astronauts any more than flying in a plane makes me a pilot.

No-one ever really "pilots" a rocket, in any meaningful sense.
The forces involved and reaction times required have always been way outside of human's ability to reliability manage. All key stages of flight have been automated from the early days of space program. Today, even more than ever.

I have mixed feelings. I believe Wally should get hers, unquestionably. The others, even though they were indeed "Spam in a Can", at least had the guts to get on the thing, I'll give them that much...

If you got into space, by any methods available, you most certainly been to space. Whether FAA "blesses" you with an arbitrary bureaucratic title, or not, is of exactly zero consequence or significance.
FAA's stance seams to be more along the lines of: "if he is not one of ours, so he can't have our badge". The excuse of requiring "contribution to human spaceflight safety" is pathetic, as the only contributions towards that goal are made by engineers on the ground, who never actually go into space.

Luckily for everyone involved, no-one asked FAA for a badge anyway.
Blue Origin minted its own:
https://futurism.com/jeff-bezos-astronaut

I used to manage teams of software developers (programmers).
They liked to be called Software Engineers but there was no licensing or certification to support that title. Many had completed a degree for "electrical engineering" but again, none held a "licensed Engineer" credential.

Licensing serves two primary purposes:
- Validates minimal qualifications of a narrowly defined skill set.
- Reserve quasi-monopolistic economic power to the members of the "licensed" class.

Neither really applies to space travel. The entire debate, there, is about bragging rights.

w.r.t. software developers, that occupation's mastery (and that of most other complex professions) requires more art, talent and experience, then basic rudimentary skills that could be validated through a "licensing" program. Nevertheless, there are tons of vendor-defined CS license designation floating around. Some of those carry more value, than others.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/724908