telcodad King doesn’t seem to realize or ignores the difference between these Blue Origin New Shepard flights and the flights by others to orbit.
Yes, she can find joy in space and experience the overview effect. Yes, there can be scientific studies about the effects of the flight on its passengers and the reusability of the hardware. Yes, they can be called astronauts because they passed the Karman line. Same with Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip flights.
Passengers on these flights don’t really have any duties besides enjoying the ride and not bad mouthing Blue Origin. It’s not a journey because it took less than 15 minutes and didn’t leave the perimeter of the ranch.
In the end, this is space tourism, aka rich people roller coasters. Pay enough, pass a medical exam, and sign the papers. Doesn’t matter if the passengers are male or female, pilots or talking heads, scientists or layman. They’re seat fillers.
Nobody celebrates the thousands per day that are passengers on non-stop flights across the Atlantic from New York to Paris, like history has done with pilot Charles Lindbergh’s first solo flight doing the same.
