4 ms·

There are no commercial passenger airliners capable of flying above the Karman Line, let alone doing so on accident.

soheil 5y ago
Branson's flight was not above the Karman line. But I think you're missing the point, the point isn't to say who is an astronaut or who isn't, that's childish nit-picking and more about bragging rights. There, however, needs to remain a distinction between people who are intensively trained and are flown to space to do exploration or accomplish scientific missions and those who happen to be on a ride.
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  > There, however, needs to remain a distinction between people who are intensively trained and are flown to space to do exploration or accomplish scientific missions and those who happen to be on a ride. Definitions based on role get tricky. If someone outside NASA pilots a space shuttle up to the ISS and then takes it back down without personally doing science, are they not an astronaut? If they are, what about a copilot? Does it matter how many buttons the pilot/copilot presses?
  - soheil 5y ago
    Absolutism doesn't work. But we can still have a role based definition for an astronaut that is pretty well understood, riding a craft to space without any intensive training for a short period of time and coming back down isn't one.
    - Dylan16807 5y ago
      I don't think the training matters. NASA could grab someone right now and send them to do science on the ISS for a few months without intensive training. Okay, they wouldn't be able to do space walks, whatever. They'd deserve the title astronaut. Duration of the trip works right now, but I don't know if that will continue to be a useful rule. And I would like to know your answer to my question. If we get a space shuttle out of storage, and someone pilots it but does nothing else, are they an astronaut? With said pilot being non-NASA to avoid the "everyone on a NASA mission is an astronaut" rule.
      - krapp 5y ago
        >NASA could grab someone right now and send them to do science on the ISS for a few months without intensive training. Wikipedia's page on astronaut training suggests otherwise[0] - becoming an astronaut takes a year and a half to two years of training, and of course to do science on the ISS, you need to be a qualified scientist to begin with. NASA's requirements page[1] says you need a masters' degree in some STEM field. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut_training https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut_training [1]https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/features/F_Astronaut_Requirements.html https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/feat...
        Dylan16807 5y ago
        > Wikipedia's page on astronaut training suggests otherwise[0] - becoming an astronaut takes a year and a half to two years of training, and of course to do science on the ISS, you need to be a qualified scientist to begin with. That much training isn't required because the people involved will get hurt. It's required because NASA wants everyone on board to be all-around experts at space. > NASA's requirements page[1] says you need a masters' degree in some STEM field. The space station doesn't care if you have a degree.
        krapp 5y ago
        >That much training isn't required because the people involved will get hurt. It's required because NASA wants everyone on board to be all-around experts at space. It's still a lot more training than Bezos and Branson got. >The space station doesn't care if you have a degree. Citation needed. Every source I've been able to find says NASA requires at least a Bachelor's degree for mission-specific training on the ISS, or a Masters' degree to qualify for the astronaut corps. Given how expensive time and equipment on the ISS is, I seriously doubt they're sending high-school dropouts up to do research.
        Dylan16807 5y ago
        I'm not sure how to be clearer. When I say NASA could do something, that means if they wanted to. NASA doesn't want anyone that isn't a super duper expert, but they don't need that rule.
RandallBrown 5y ago
Someday there will be. Will civilians on vacations to the moon be considered astronauts? I'm fine either way honestly.
- zamadatix 5y ago
  With how automated space flight has become I think either nobody will be an astronaut anymore in short order with how automated every step is or the term will come to mean "person who travelled through outer space" until the point it is no longer interesting enough to be worth noting.

Branson's flight was not above the Karman line. But I think you're missing the point, the point isn't to say who is an astronaut or who isn't, that's childish nit-picking and more about bragging rights. There, however, needs to remain a distinction between people who are intensively trained and are flown to space to do exploration or accomplish scientific missions and those who happen to be on a ride.

Dylan16807 5y ago
> There, however, needs to remain a distinction between people who are intensively trained and are flown to space to do exploration or accomplish scientific missions and those who happen to be on a ride. Definitions based on role get tricky. If someone outside NASA pilots a space shuttle up to the ISS and then takes it back down without personally doing science, are they not an astronaut? If they are, what about a copilot? Does it matter how many buttons the pilot/copilot presses?
- soheil 5y ago
  Absolutism doesn't work. But we can still have a role based definition for an astronaut that is pretty well understood, riding a craft to space without any intensive training for a short period of time and coming back down isn't one.
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    I don't think the training matters. NASA could grab someone right now and send them to do science on the ISS for a few months without intensive training. Okay, they wouldn't be able to do space walks, whatever. They'd deserve the title astronaut. Duration of the trip works right now, but I don't know if that will continue to be a useful rule. And I would like to know your answer to my question. If we get a space shuttle out of storage, and someone pilots it but does nothing else, are they an astronaut? With said pilot being non-NASA to avoid the "everyone on a NASA mission is an astronaut" rule.
    - krapp 5y ago
      >NASA could grab someone right now and send them to do science on the ISS for a few months without intensive training. Wikipedia's page on astronaut training suggests otherwise[0] - becoming an astronaut takes a year and a half to two years of training, and of course to do science on the ISS, you need to be a qualified scientist to begin with. NASA's requirements page[1] says you need a masters' degree in some STEM field. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut_training https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut_training [1]https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/features/F_Astronaut_Requirements.html https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/feat...
      - Dylan16807 5y ago
        > Wikipedia's page on astronaut training suggests otherwise[0] - becoming an astronaut takes a year and a half to two years of training, and of course to do science on the ISS, you need to be a qualified scientist to begin with. That much training isn't required because the people involved will get hurt. It's required because NASA wants everyone on board to be all-around experts at space. > NASA's requirements page[1] says you need a masters' degree in some STEM field. The space station doesn't care if you have a degree.
        krapp 5y ago
        >That much training isn't required because the people involved will get hurt. It's required because NASA wants everyone on board to be all-around experts at space. It's still a lot more training than Bezos and Branson got. >The space station doesn't care if you have a degree. Citation needed. Every source I've been able to find says NASA requires at least a Bachelor's degree for mission-specific training on the ISS, or a Masters' degree to qualify for the astronaut corps. Given how expensive time and equipment on the ISS is, I seriously doubt they're sending high-school dropouts up to do research.
        Dylan16807 5y ago
        I'm not sure how to be clearer. When I say NASA could do something, that means if they wanted to. NASA doesn't want anyone that isn't a super duper expert, but they don't need that rule.

RandallBrown 5y ago

Someday there will be. Will civilians on vacations to the moon be considered astronauts? I'm fine either way honestly.

zamadatix 5y ago
With how automated space flight has become I think either nobody will be an astronaut anymore in short order with how automated every step is or the term will come to mean "person who travelled through outer space" until the point it is no longer interesting enough to be worth noting.