Duffy: All-Female Blue Origin Crew Not Astronauts

​On Monday, Jeff Bezos’ commercial spaceflight company launched its New Shepard rocket with an all-female crew into suborbital space from West Texas. 

The six-member crew included Lauren Sánchez, Katy Perry, Gayle King, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyễn, and Kerianne Flynn, who experienced weightlessness during the approximately 11-minute flight.​

Designated NS-31, the mission reached the Kármán line—the internationally recognized boundary of space at 62 miles above Earth—before safely returning to the surface.

Blue Origin has continually referred to the six crewmembers as astronauts.

“We just completed our 11th human spaceflight and the 31st flight of the New Shepard program. The astronaut crew included Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyễn, Gayle King, Katy Perry, Kerianne Flynn, and Lauren Sánchez,” the company stated on social media.

Duffy has pushed back on claims that they meet the criteria of “astronauts.” 

“The crew who flew to space this week on an automated flight by Blue Origin were brave and glam, but you cannot identify as an astronaut,” he said. “They do not meet the FAA astronaut criteria.”

Blue Origin has not responded to Duffy’s comments.

“The U.S. commercial space industry is an inspiring project which showcases American ingenuity and exceptionalism,” Duffy said. “But the last FAA guidelines under the Commercial Space Astronaut Wings Program were clear: Crewmembers who travel into space must have ‘demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety or contributed to human space flight safety.’”