> I found it annoying, even a bit insulting, that they kept referring to the people in the capsule as "astronauts". This is all about poking at Virgin Galactic

> I found it annoying, even a bit insulting, that they kept referring to the people in the capsule as "astronauts". This is all about poking at Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic cleared 80km, which is the height that earns you astronaut wings in the USA. Blue Origin clears the Kármán line (100km), which is the internationally recognized standard for human spaceflight. So they're digging in hard on, "Jeff Bezos has been to space, Richard Branson hasn't," in an effort to imply that Virgin Galactic's flight from earlier this month doesn't count, theirs is the real first.