Jeff Bezos has gone to the edge of space, so is he an astronaut?

“Our astronauts have completed training and are ready to launch,” Blue Origin, the company owned by Bezos, announced on Twitter on the evening of July 19. Less than 10 hours later, at 9:22 a.m. EDT, Bezos and three other passengers – Mary “Wally” Funk, an 82-year-old former pilot; Oliver Daemen, the 18-year-old son of a Dutch hedge fund CEO; and Mark – Bezos’ brother – successfully finished the flight lasting more than 10 minutes.

Jeff Bezos has made a flight to the edge of space, does that mean the richest man in the world has become an astronaut?

This statement of spacecraft company Blue Origin has been met with skepticism by some experts.

Jeff Bezos and customers aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard

At its highest point during launch, Bezos’ passenger capsule crossed the Kármán line, the 100-kilometer sea-level boundary that some scientists use to delineate where Earth’s atmosphere ends and space outside begins.

This seems to be a simple case, the richest man on the planet has gone to space, so he must be an astronaut. However, space experts say it takes more than pushing the boundaries to win the title.

Scott Manley, a space commentator, tweeted a reply to Blue Origin. “Remember that Wally Funk has more flying experience than any astronaut in space today.” Funk has had 19,600 hours of flight time in a variety of aircraft and has taught more than 3,000 people to fly.

Funk, who was about to become an astronaut in the Mercury 13 program in 1961 but was excluded from spaceflight by NASA because of his gender, was the only member of the crew to receive flight training.

Mercury 13 members, 1995 photo

Typically, to be eligible for NASA training, astronauts must have a master’s degree in a STEM field and two years of relevant professional experience or 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command flight. jet plane.

After meeting this first requirement, they must pass a strenuous physical assessment before entering a two-year basic training course in which they learn everything from how to pilot a spacecraft to how to fly a spacecraft. communicates in Russian with the Russian Mission Control Center, according to NASA.

After passing basic training, NASA astronauts will be assessed for fitness before being assigned to a mission, which can take them up to several years to prepare before embarking on a mission. fly. The International Space Station crews tend to train for two years to be able to do a six-month mission in space.

In 2017, more than 18,000 people enrolled in NASA’s astronaut class, but only 12 were selected for further training.

In contrast, Bezos and his crew received only 14 hours of training in the two days before they flew, during which they were prepared for procedures, in-cabin emergencies, flight director Blue Origin’s Steve Lanius said at a press conference July 18.

Blue Origin made history when four passengers, including Jeff Bezos, took off and into space aboard the New Shepard

Aside from Funk’s previous experience, these 14 hours were the only training the crew members received.

Charles Bolden, a former NASA administrator and astronaut, said that to be considered an astronaut, candidates must be prepared to pilot spacecraft, mission vehicles, and work in emergency situations. level. This is again a task that the New Shepard, as a self-propelled vessel, is designed to prevent passengers from performing.

Inside the passenger compartment of the New Shepard

“The most stressful thing they’re going to do today, physically, is step on the train,” Charles said.

Blurring the definition of “astronaut”, so that it includes a few tourists or anyone who hovers over our heads for a moment, could become the focal point of future linguistic debates, as more and more tourists join suborbital flights.

“Technically, before you fly, you can be selected to be a NASA astronaut, but you probably won’t call yourself an astronaut until you’ve been assigned a mission and been able to fly. You were an astronaut candidate before that time,” said space historian Dr. Roger Launius.

“We tend to call someone who goes to space an astronaut, whether they’re a tourist or not. But I know some NASA astronauts who would argue that’s the usage. uses inappropriate terminology and would challenge anyone who wants to say Dennis Tito or Richard Branson, or anyone who is not a professional in this particular field, they will say no, those people are not really people astronauts,” added Launius.

Dennis Tito is an American billionaire who entered the International Space Station (ISS) via the Russian Soyuz spacecraft on a trip he paid for himself and has become the world’s first space tourist.

Dennis Tito (left) went to the ISS but is still not considered an astronaut

Perhaps, after brief suborbital fun, the best way to see if the title of “astronaut” belongs to Jeff Bezos, is to consider whether he is currently qualified to work as an astronaut astronaut or not. If the answer is no, that job and title should probably be left to the professionals.

Reference: LiveScience