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Comment by AlexanderTheGr8 | Hacker News Reader

"An astronaut (from the Greek "astron" (ἄστρον), meaning "star", and "nautes" (ναύτης), meaning "sailor") is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft."

They were trained (not as well trained as NASA astronauts, but still trained well enough for such a short mission)

They were equipped with whatever equipments they needed for this flight.

They were deployed by a human spaceflight program.

So by definition, shouldn't they classify as "astronauts"?

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Crew members have defined roles and responsibilities, and are important to the success of a mission beyond having paid to be there. The alternative is more apt here, I think: passengers.

You may be right.

But still for the sake of discussion, I would argue that their mission required only 1 responsibility - that you be there. Even if they orbit around the Earth, modern spacecrafts are designed in such a way that crew member input is almost unnecessary. I wonder how much crew input is needed to dock on ISS in modern crafts...

Astronaut pro tempore may apply

I take it you're not a big fan of Gagarin, the first human in space, then. What was his importance beyond 'being there'?

That why they called him an cosmonaut instead of astronaut. SCNR

Vostok 1 is a tricky exception because there was no gurantee Gagarin would be conscious or even alive when he got to space. That mission had to be automated.

But he had a role other than just being a passenger. He was there to make observations on the performance of the rocket and the spacecraft, as well as himself throughout the mission. There's a clear scientific role here that the Blue Origin tourists do not have. And while the controls were locked, Gagarin had the code to unlock them and was to take over the spacecraft in the event of automation failure or another manually recoverable emergency.

As I wrote someplace else before: his job was done by dogs and monkeys before, so it's hardly mission critical for him to even be conscious. In fact, the mission would have been considered a great success even if he had been unconscious the whole flight, as long as he survived. His presence was the key point.

Throughout Mercury, the astronauts had to fight for control elements to even be included in the spacecraft because automation was considered the safer option.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan and these steps were incredible milestones, and I certainly wouldn't have wanted to switch seats with anyone.

Here, I am sure Bezos can/would argue that "someone had to make observations on the performance of the rocket and the spacecraft, as well as himself throughout the mission". Sure, the goal here is commercial, but it's hard to argue that Gagarin's flight was made to gain pure scientific knowledge to finally answer the pressing question of how humans react to spaceflight, rather than political/technological.

Surely I'm not a sailor for having taken a cruise ship. I did, however, participate in the safety demonstration, and packed my bags.

I'm definitely on-board with calling Bezos a passenger.

To finish you wiki quote:

"Although generally reserved for professional space travelers, the terms are sometimes applied to anyone who travels into space, including scientists, politicians, journalists and tourists."

When I'm out rowing a boat I don't think anyone would consider me a captain. Or when I'm sitting on a ship, I don't think anyone would consider me a sailor.

When I'm on a flight I'm called a passenger, for example. They were passengers.

What about the "serve as commander or crew member" part?

are the members of the crew of Blue Origin 3 not 'crew members'?

Is the passenger sitting in 23E on a flight from Newark to LA a "crew member"?

If I drive onto the ferry am I part of the crew? I’ve been told (trained) on what to do and I’m equipped (my car), so am I a crew member? No, I’m just a passenger following the crew’s direction.

If you are the only one aboard then you are crew.

If the ferry is fully automated and I don't do anything beyond parking my car safely I wouldn't say I was crew then, I'm still just a passenger until I actually do something for the operation of the vehicle/craft.

Is a passenger on a commercial flight a crew member? Would you call every passenger an “airman”?

I’d ask their name and call them that.

I’m under no obligation to recognize anyone as anything but an average human without proof they’re actually skilled as they claim.

Titles are political euphemism. I want to know someone’s profile to know who I am dealing with. You’re a doctor? Of ants. Not helpful when I need someone that studied human anatomy.

None of these titles explain the training involved. The honestly gained skill set based on direct learning.

Bezos isn’t a genius; he’s a politically elevated person due to financial success. Humans will never live among the stars as the meat bags we are; far more likely we etch a simulated human consciousness into a new medium than adapt this biology. We’re just watching one guy get his jollies off at our political expense.

Titillate the masses to keep them politically disorganized. Humans used to wage holy wars, invade other nations to do that. Now it’s engineering and economic spectacle.

What a trivial and boring people I live among. Collectively setting themselves aside to ogle this stuff.

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