Cringe, I had it backwards; thanks for the reply. I wonder if there have been any numbers published for space. Looks like the ISS does the equivalent distance

Cringe, I had it backwards; thanks for the reply. I wonder if there have been any numbers published for space. Looks like the ISS does the equivalent distance of (only) 134 crossings of North America in one day. Or, stated another way, 134 people crossing it once. Clearly airlines carry way more people than that, and the fatalities are lost in the noise. So it would seem that yeah you're right, airlines are still beating space for safety by a big margin. To make space win you'd have to cheat and count something absurd like the miles our solar system travels as it orbits the galactic center... but then to be fair you'd have to credit the airlines with the same distance... so nevermind.