WASHINGTON, D.C. — Will the customers who fly on the suborbital spaceships operated by British billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin get astronaut wings? That’s highly debatable, but one thing’s for sure: They’ll be awarded a lapel pin to mark their achievement.
The pin, created by the Association of Space Explorers, made its debut today on the lapel of Beth Moses, chief astronaut instructor at Virgin Galactic. She was pinned here at the International Astronautical Congress by former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, the association’s president.
Moses already has her commercial astronaut wings from the Federal Aviation Administration, by virtue of her trip beyond the 50-mile mark in February aboard Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity rocket plane. Nevertheless, she’s glad to have the pin as well.
“It’s wonderful to be presented with this new pin,” Moses said in a news release. “It’s a real honor to be recognized by an association which counts so many pioneers of space exploration among its members. I’m looking forward to working with them to continue to inspire and educate people around the advantages of seeing the world’s problems from the perspective of space.”
The Association of Space Explorers was founded in 1985, but until now it provided recognition (and a pin) only to spacefliers who achieved orbit. The pin for suborbital space travelers, created as a result of discussions with Virgin Galactic, has a slightly different design.
Going forward, the suborbital pin will be awarded to customers and crew members who rise above 50 miles in altitude — whether it’s on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo craft, Blue Origin’s New Shepard spaceship or other vehicles yet to be developed.
“We look forward to this new demographic of spacefliers adding to our own voices in promoting the benefits of human space exploration, greater stewardship of our home planet, and inspiring the next generation,” Lopez-Alegria said.