FAA Revises Criteria for Commercial Astronaut Wings

upstart writes:

FAA revises criteria for commercial astronaut wings - SpaceNews:

The FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation issued an order July 20 describing its FAA Commercial Space Astronaut Wings Program and the criteria for awarding them. The order represents the first formal update of the wings program since it was introduced in 2004.

According to the order, the FAA will award wings to commercial launch crew members who meet the requirements in federal regulations for crew qualifications and training, and fly on an FAA-licensed or permitted launch to an altitude of at least 50 miles (80 kilometers). The order also requires those crew members to have demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety."

The last provision is new in the order.

[...] The FAA has now changed the focus to recognize flight crew who demonstrate activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety, among other criteria."

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