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Good. They were “passengers” much like someone sitting on a jet is not a “pilot”. Not to diminish what their companies are doing - I believe there’s real value
by nemo44x 5y ago
Good. They were “passengers” much like someone sitting on a jet is not a “pilot”.
Not to diminish what their companies are doing - I believe there’s real value from getting people excited about going up and a better way of life for the people of the future.
But they are not astronauts and that’s ok. I would like to go to space too but I will never be an astronaut.
- CamperBob2 5y agoYou could contrast them with Richard Garriott, who actually did undergo astronaut (or rather cosmonaut) training, and participated actively as a crew member on his ISS trip. I tend to agree that just strapping yourself in and hanging on for a few minutes shouldn't earn astronaut wings. But that's not really what their efforts were all about, and it seems disingenuous of the press to focus on it. I'm also not going to walk up to Wally Funk and tell her she's not a Real Astronaut. Bezos is getting zero credit for reversing a genuine historical injustice here.