FAI's Astronaut Wing badge

I was wondering, will space tourists be awarded the wings after the flight?

It seems a tad unfair, since they did non of the flying nor training and was just passengers. It would devalue the badge, as well as the current holders. Should there be, or is there a separate certification? Something like space travel certificate...

Defiently agree with you there, you should have to work for it, A certificate or somekind of special passenger badge they should get.

I'd rather slog it out thru astronaut training than go up for a joy ride to get the wings.

Iain

The question I had is about what passengers of a suborbital tourism company would get if operating outside the US? Would they still be candidates for the badge?

It shows that the term "astronaut" is becoming outmoded. Who talks about "aeronauts" these days?

Instead of astronaut wings, the FAA should issue certifications for "space pilots" (e.g. Shuttle commanders, pilots) and "space crew" (mission/payload specialists).

they don't have certificates for airline passengers, do they?
except for those plastic wings they give to kids
personally I don't care about getting FAI or FAA wings and certificates. I just want to "boldly go where no one has gone before"
If suborbital flight becomes commercial venture, I will aim for orbit, and then for Mars and then to the stars.

The Federal Aviation Administration's Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST) awards commercial astronaut wings to pilots who break the 50-mile mark. Mike Melvill was the first to earn these wings. The rather arbitrary boundary between air and space was established by the United States Air Force decades ago, and the FAA adopted it.

Passengers will probably require a waiver for insurance reasons, but they will not get official wings. Virgin Galactic may offer "honorary wings" or something like that. I could see the value of getting a space passenger pin or something, which paying passengers receive upon return. Imagine wearing that on one's lapel or blouse...

When I read "Virgin Galactic", I just thought you were kidding. Then I ran a google search. Now I know exactly where I intend to go to work. Well, I'll just have to dust off my old AIM/FAR manual and see about getting that ATP license, with extra-atmospheric endorsement (or whatever it's called).

And as to the space passenger pin, that would DEFINITELY find a spot on my backpack.

Nope.
You gotta be a pilot.


For guys along for the ride it would be like awarding a commercial pilots wings to somebody who sat in the back of a 747.


Part of the reason I decided to go to law school was so I could afford a L-39 or other jet (maybe a Javalin if I really made it). Then just tool around the sky in comfort, figuring as a "warbird" owner I'd basically be king of private aviation. Now I got something else I gotta save up for. Nice to know even if I'm a succesful lawyer I'll still be broke. I need those wings.

Does anybody know what the maximum altitude is for SSO ?

They can keep their wings.. I just want to DO it, not have some little trinket to show off. I live for me, not the perceptions of others.

Personally, I think that the award of astronaut wings to pilots who exceeded the 50 mile barrier was in the spirit of encouraging researchers (in this case pilots) who were performing in a very dangerous (or at least unknown) environment. It was recognition of service to the advancement of knowledge and understanding.

I think this should continue ... but when the vehicle is no longer a research & development vehicle and becomes rated for passenger carriage then the pilot (who, in such a vehicle, is basically just a technical operator) should no longer qualify for any sort of award. He's getting paid to operate a machine. Bus drivers, who for low pay often drive hundreds of miles under difficult conditions with the lives of dozens in their care, don't get any awards. Similarly, in a like commercial operation neither pilot nor passengers should get the wings.

At some point you have to say, ok ... Melville, Binnie and whomever else pilots experimental vehicles beyond the current arbitrary cutoff deserve recognition. They earned it. But the average joes who come later and learn how to fly the finished product (no passenger-carrying craft would be considered anything else by the commercial operation) I think should get paid to do the job right, but no medals.

Medals are only small flat metallic objects, but they are potent symbols of the recognized power and fortitude of those that are awarded them.

Now being called an "astronaut", that should go to people who work in space. Which would include "bus drivers" who take people beyond 100 km. Astronaut, as a term, used to be a sort of euphamism for hero (and heroes often got medals). This usage will eventually cease.

DKH

I definetly want to fly in space, not just be a passenger. Id like to earn astronaut wings. Also I wouldnt want to get them if i was a passenger, it wouldnt really mean much...i've just been there, i didnt do the work to get there.