Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo pilots awarded FAA astronaut wings

The United States now has two new Commercial Astronauts.

Virgin Galactic test pilots Mark "Forger" Stucky and Frederick "CJ" Sturckow were awarded Commercial Astronaut Wings by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday (Feb. 7). The two were recognized during a ceremony held at the Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C., for their Dec. 13, 2018 flight aboard Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo "VSS Unity," which was the first time that the vehicle had flown into space.

Three Virgin Galactic Crew Presented with Commercial Astronaut Wings at 35th National Space Symposium

The three-person crew from Virgin Galactic's second spaceflight have received Commercial Astronaut Wings from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Chief Pilot, Dave Mackay, Lead Pilot trainer, Mike 'Sooch' Masucci and Chief Astronaut Instructor, Beth Moses, were presented their wings at the 35th National Space Symposium, where it was also announced that Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company (TSC) are to be presented the Space Achievement Award later this week.

The crew became the 5th, 6th and 7th people in history to receive this honor, and Beth the first woman to earn Commercial Astronaut Wings.

The wings were presented by the FAA'S Associate Administrator for the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, Wayne R. Monteith who declared: "Commercial human spaceflight is now a reality. These wings are just a small recognition for the truly remarkable achievement by these crew members to reach outer space. It shows we are well on the way into this new and exciting chapter of space travel."

The February 22nd test flight completed Virgin Galactic's second spaceflight in 10 weeks and saw the crew rocket into space at more than three times the speed of sound. As the spaceship coasted to apogee, Beth, who became the first woman to fly to space on a commercial spaceship, floated free to complete a number of cabin validation checks. Beth said: "It was an honor to receive my Commercial Astronaut Wings today. Since the flight we have been assessing the findings from my cabin evaluations; I'm excited by what the results are showing and looking forward to incorporating what we learnt into our cabin outfitting and astronaut training program."

Richard Branson sent a message of congratulations to the crew: "Seeing Dave, Mike and Beth receive their Commercial Astronaut Wings is a proud moment for all of us at Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company. Our pilots executed a perfect flight and it was wonderful to have Beth float free to conduct our first live cabin evaluation. The flight was another historic moment as we continue towards our mission of becoming the world's first commercial spaceline."

First, this is not an issue about altitude, or about tourists. That's been covered elsewhere, including in a great article by Eric Berger, in which Robert himself is quoted.

My issue was with what it is the FAA is actually issuing to the crews. Turns out, it's not very obvious. Previously, as was the case with SpaceShipOne, the assumption was that "crew" were, by definition, FAA-licensed pilots.

The FAA definition of "crew" or "flight crew" is "a pilot, flight engineer, or flight navigator assigned to duty in an aircraft during flight time." That clearly means that to be considered "crew," one had to be licensed by the FAA as any of the above, with the appropriate medical certificate.

Aircraft manufacturers and operators routinely fly with engineers and FAA-licensed mechanics aboard test flights during certification or maintenance. Some of these flights can get "sporty," to say the least. When they return, they are not eligible for any FAA recognition or rating, so one might wonder what the difference here is, if any.

Under the latest FAA regulations related to commercial spaceflight, they have chosen to define "crew" as:

Any employee or independent contractor to a licensee, transferee, or permittee... who performs activities in the course of that employment or contract directly relating to the launch, reentry, or other operation of or in a launch vehicle or reentry vehicle that carries human beings. A crew consists of a flight crew and any remote operator.

So, unlike any other aspect of commercial aviation, the FAA has decided to define "crew" as practically anybody employed by the operator, who is performing some undefined task. The medical requirement is also nebulous because the rule does not define what a "safety-critical role" is.

So what exactly are "astronaut wings"? At the present time, the FAA does not have a "commercial astronaut" certificate or rating. I believe there was some misunderstanding about this based upon early reporting done around the time of the SS1 flights. So, in what is termed an "interim measure," the agency has issued these wings.

The FAA says the initiative "is designed to recognize flight crewmembers who further the FAA's mission to promote the safety of vehicles designed to carry humans. Astronaut Wings are given to flight crew who have demonstrated a safe flight to and return from space on an FAA/AST licensed mission," and, "to be eligible for Astronaut Wings, nominees must meet the following criteria and submit an application to the FAA:

• Be an FAA licensed launch

• Meet the requirements for flight crew qualifications and training under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 460 (quoted above)

• Demonstrate flight beyond 50 statute miles above the surface of the Earth as flight crew on an FAA licensed or permitted launch or reentry vehicle.

Yet another undefined term is what exactly a "safe flight to and return from space" consists of. That would imply that "crew" that either wrecks or has to bail out after achieving 50 miles would not be eligible?

So it seems that, at present, these wings are little more than a recognition/public relations device than they are the issuance any rating, certificate, or title to any participant in a spaceflight. The "astronaut" title, as I mentioned before, is a sticky subject, with a wide variety of opinions from professional astronauts, private spaceflight participants, and even the payload specialists who orbited Earth aboard the shuttle. As I found writing "Come Fly With Us," many of the PSs shy away from referring to themselves by the title.

quote:

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Originally posted by 328KF:
As I found writing "Come Fly With Us," many of the PSs shy away from referring to themselves by the title.

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I realize this is splitting hairs, but my definition of an astronaut is someone taking a primary role in either the craft or mission. Therefore, one piloting a craft in whatever your definition of space is would make one an astronaut.

I have little issue with PSs like Charlie Walker or the Spacelab PSs calling themselves astronauts. They have taken an active, primary role in the mission - Walker with the McD experiment(s) and the Spacelab PSs, that's the very reason for their mission.

Again, splitting hairs, but I don't believe Moses in the five minutes or so of weightlessness, would qualify to be called an astronaut, despite her evaluating the cabin during that time. Nor do I believe the PSs, who flew as a favor / thank you / babysat a satellite deployment would qualify to be called astronauts either, despite them taking part in secondary objectives.

If I'm just paying to be a passenger on a space vehicle, I would think that that I'm just a passenger, and the term "astronaut wouldn't really apply to me, no more that me calling myself an "aeronaut" because I've flown on countless passenger planes.

I'm not really sure of the status of the first few paying passengers on Virgin Galactic because I have heard that they do require some training. But I doubt its anywhere near the amount of training that NASA astronauts require.

Apropos to this thread, the FAA awards Civilian Astronaut Wings to any member of the flight crew who enters space aboard a private vehicle.

At its most basic, though, the title of "astronaut" (lower case "a") indicates that someone has crossed from Earth's atmosphere into space. Companies like Virgin Galactic offering suborbital flights use the term accordingly for their crew and passengers.

As before, you can earn the wings if you are a commercial launch crewmember, which means you:

• Meet the requirements for flight crew qualifications and training under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 460.

• Demonstrated flight beyond 50 statute miles above the surface of the Earth as flight crew on an FAA/AST licensed or permitted launch or reentry vehicle.

• Demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety.

There could be individuals whose contribution to commercial human space flight merits special recognition. The Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (AST-1) has total discretion regarding identifying and bestowing FAA honorary award of Commercial Space Astronaut Wings to individuals who demonstrated extraordinary contribution or beneficial service to the commercial human space flight industry.

These individuals receiving an honorary award may not be required to satisfy all eligibility requirements. The honorary award can be granted posthumously.

FAA Ends Commercial Space Astronaut Wings Program, Will Recognize Individuals Reaching Space on Website

With the advent of the commercial space tourism era, starting in 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will now recognize individuals who reach space on its website instead of issuing Commercial Space Astronaut Wings. Any individual who is on an FAA-licensed or permitted launch and reaches 50 statute miles above the surface of the Earth will be listed on the site.

"The U.S. commercial human spaceflight industry has come a long way from conducting test flights to launching paying customers into space," FAA Associate Administrator Wayne Monteith said. "The Astronaut Wings program, created in 2004, served its original purpose to bring additional attention to this exciting endeavor. Now it's time to offer recognition to a larger group of adventurers daring to go to space."

The FAA expects the commercial human spaceflight industry to continue to grow and the number of people launching to space to increase dramatically in the coming years.

The Wings program was created by the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation's former Associate Administrator, the late Patti Grace Smith. Its purpose was to recognize pilots and flight crew who furthered the FAA's mission to promote the development of vehicles designed to carry humans into space. With three commercial space companies now licensed by the FAA to fly spaceflight participants, and companies conducting operations, her vision is largely fulfilled.

Before the Wings program ends, the FAA will award Commercial Space Astronaut Wings to those who had qualifying space travel in 2021, including 15 individuals who have already travelled beyond 50 statute miles above the surface of the Earth on a FAA-licensed launch. Individuals on qualifying flights occurring prior the end of the year are also eligible to receive Wings.

In addition, the FAA is making an honorary award of Commercial Space Astronaut Wings to two individuals who flew on a FAA-permitted experimental test flight in a space launch vehicle that broke up during flight in 2014.

For a complete list of FAA Commercial Space Astronaut Wings recipients, click here.

From Blue Origin (via Twitter):

The crews of NS-16, NS-18 and NS-19 received their FAA Astronaut Wings. Congratulations Astronauts!

Wally Funk received the wings numbered 13 in recognition of her history with the "Mercury 13."

Astronaut wings

by Richard Branson

Enjoyed a flying visit to the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. The event is a unique gathering of people from across the space sector, and we had a very special reason to be here – receiving our FAA astronaut wings.

As a member of the first crewed spaceflight by a commercial company, I was honoured to join my fellow Virgin Galactic mission specialists Sirisha Bandla and Colin Bennett in receiving our wings from the FAA.

It was also wonderful to catch up with our fourth mission specialist, Beth Moses, and our amazing Unity 22 pilots, Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci, who all received their astronaut wings at the Space Symposium in 2019.

I must admit, I felt like a big kid stood up there at an astronaut wings ceremony. A wings ceremony for commercial astronauts! When we started Virgin Galactic, the very idea seemed like a dream.

At the ceremony, I love how Sirisha summed up the opportunities that Virgin Galactic is creating: "I remember as we returned back to Earth, I couldn't help but wonder who is going to be sitting in this seat after me. I had no idea; it could be anyone. And then it hit me. It could be anyone. And that is incredible and exciting."

And Colin described the wonder of the experience we shared so well: "The overwhelming amount of beauty that I saw when I looked out of the window at apogee was equaled by the expressions of joy and astonishment that I saw when I looked back inside the cabin."

One of the things I am most excited about for our Future Astronauts is that as well as going to space, you come back to Earth with a new purpose, and with dear friends who shared in the experience of a lifetime with you. I hear from so many people excited about becoming an astronaut one day. This is especially true of young people.

My beautiful grandchildren were very much in my mind as we flew to space – "Papa going to the moon!" they cheered at me.

They were the first to greet us when we touched back down to Earth. My message from space was to inspire the next generation of dreamers – and that mission continues today. As the saying goes, if you can see it, you can be it.