Under new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules announced the same day that Jeff Bezos and his group of space travelers boarded the Blue Origin spaceship, the billionaire may not get his astronaut wings.
For the first time in 17 years, the FAA decided to update its Commercial Astronaut Wings Program restrictions, according to CNN News. And the change in criteria doesn’t have anything to do with altitude, either.
There is no international law defining the edge of space. The U.S. military, the Federal Aviation Administration, and NASA all set the boundary of space at 50 miles (80 kilometers) above ground, although different countries use differing altitudes.
But based on 80 kilometers – both Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos made it to the edge of space, says the BBC.
However, putting altitude aside, the FAA now says would-be astronauts must have also “demonstrated activities during a flight that were essential to public safety or contributed to human space flight safety.”
What that means, exactly, would be up to the discretion of the FAA. And it will also be up to the discretion of the FAA to let the intrepid edge-of-space travelers keep their astronaut wings.
According to Observer.com, however, it’s likely that no one aboard New Shepard would qualify because it’s an autonomous vehicle. By that same logic, Virgin billionaire Richard Branson wouldn’t qualify for his trip to space days earlier, nor would anyone on his space trip – other than the pilots.
When asked what the change in policy means for the most recent space tourists, an FAA spokesperson said that, in order to get astronaut wings, a nomination is required. “There are no nominations currently before the FAA to review,” the spokesperson said.