This is a misleading headline that is implying way more controversy than actually exists. The headline should be “FAA updates commercial astronaut criteria.” Th

This is a misleading headline that is implying way more controversy than actually exists. The headline should be “FAA updates commercial astronaut criteria.” This is a very reasonable update to a specific FAA program using industry-standard* language to describe crew, not a wholesale redefinition of the word “astronaut.” The FAA made no comment on Bezos or Branson. None of the people on either of the flights even applied for FAA wings. Nobody from the government came out and said “you aren’t astronauts.” They just see a shift in the industry and responded accordingly before it became a problem. I know a lot of folks here love to hate the FAA because of Boeing, but to borrow a popular phrase from this site, the FAA is not one guy. Yes, there are problems in the aircraft certification division. But this is a different branch, and this move is totally reasonable. *I’m in the industry.