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Are Katy Perry, Gayle King, Lauren Sanchez, And More Astronauts After Blue Origin Space Flight? FAA Reveals
Katy Perry and Lauren Sanchez reached space with Blue Origin, but FAA rules say that’s not enough to earn the astronaut title. Here's everything you need to know.
Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez, and four others who flew to space on April 15 with Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket have been called astronauts by Jeff Bezos’ company. But according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), they don’t officially qualify as astronauts.
“We just completed our 11th human spaceflight and the 31st flight of the New Shepard program,” Blue Origin posted on social media. The crew included Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyễn, Gayle King, Katy Perry, Kerianne Flynn, and Lauren Sánchez.
However, despite passing the Karman line, the edge of space, FAA rules say the mission doesn’t meet the requirements for astronaut status as reported by DailyMail.
The FAA defines an astronaut as someone who not only travels above 50 miles in altitude but also plays a key role in flight operations. Since the New Shepard spacecraft is fully autonomous, it is flown from the ground. No one onboard can control it or perform duties during the flight.
In 2021, the FAA updated its Commercial Space Astronaut Wings Program to say that to qualify as an astronaut, a person must have “demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety.”
Simply floating in space or enjoying the view doesn’t meet this requirement. As none of the crew operated the spacecraft or performed safety-related duties, the FAA considers them space travellers, not astronauts.
When space tourism took off, the FAA decided to stop awarding astronaut wings altogether. Wayne Monteith, FAA Associate Administrator, said at the time: “The U.S. commercial human spaceflight industry has come a long way from conducting test flights to launching paying customers into space. The Astronaut Wings program, created in 2004, served its original purpose.”
Now, instead of awarding wings, the FAA adds names to a Human Spaceflight Recognition list for those who cross the 50-mile mark in an FAA-licensed vehicle. This list includes both tourists and professional astronauts, but it does not confer official astronaut status. Katy Perry and Lauren Sanchez may eventually appear on this list, but it won’t change their classification.
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