Tying it to a donation of USD 100mm to charity is a <i>very</i> good PR move. It's much harder to be upset about private space being a billionaire's club when society stands to gain from the ride.
Civilian apparently meaning non-government here, not non-military.<p>I guess not to be confused with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:NASA_civilian_astronauts" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:NASA_civilian_astrona...</a>
We have crossed the rubicon.<p>Hayley Arceneaux will become the first individual with a <i>prosthesis</i> to go to space. In the 60 year history of crewed spaceflight, we have never put a human with titanium bones in orbit. Nor, have we sent anyone up who has met <i>any</i> of the requirements to be otherwise classified as "disabled". Until now.<p>It is the indicator of a profound tipping point.<p>The very first astronauts were required to be "perfect physical specimens" (cis-male specimens at that) that had <i>no</i> abnormal readings in <i>all</i> of their medical tests. Jim Lovell was eliminated from consideration during the Mercury program because of his elevated bilirubin levels, which turned out to be a fairly normal variation of human physiology.<p>The requirements loosened to the point where Jim Lovell could go to the moon. But most people, including women, were still excluded by NASA's and the Air Force's Flight Surgeons.<p>Then came the Shuttle program that opened the field wider to more bright minds who wouldn't have met the "perfect male physical specimen" standard, including Eileen Collins and Sally Ride. By the end of the program, the shuttle had launched multiple cancer survivors into space.<p>However, so far, people who are considered "disabled" or "unfit" by the Flight Surgeon's office are still excluded. These terms cut a wide swath and include treatable conditions such as, Type-I diabetes, dysmenorrhea, endometriosis and - yes- prosthetics. Other than a call by ESA for the first disabled state-sponsored astronauts, no other astronaut corps has admitted someone like Hayley into their ranks. Yet.<p>With this flight, Hayley will set a new milestone in space medicine. A big one. She will become a test case that can be used to demonstrate that people with disabilities can function and operate in the spaceflight environment. It will break the cycle of disabled people being "flight proven", from a flight surgeon's perspective.<p>We're now at the dawn of a new age, where <i>anyone</i> physically fit can go to space, provided they have the mental aptitude. It's incredible.<p>This flight means that I can be an astronaut. And so can <i>you</i>.<p>Hayley represents a <i>huge</i> milestone. And we owe it to commercial spaceflight. Thank you, Elon and Jared Isaacman (and Axiom Space).<p>edit: This comment is one of my more downvoted comments. I'm not sure why.
Is this something SpaceX eventually plan to commercialise, like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are doing?<p>Seems to me that <i>orbital</i> spaceflight as a proposition is an order of magnitude more enticing than scratching the Kármán line. And for the people who could afford it, they'd surely pay an order of magnitude more.
“ Proctor … is a community college educator… She nabbed her ticket to space by winning a contest … that sought inspirational entrepreneurs “<p>Any idea what Proctor’s business is? I find it odd the article went with “educator”
The view from the newly built cupola must be awesome.<p><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/cupola-scaled.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/c...</a>
He had to wave his, had he not. Having said that, anybody got data on the pollution footprint of spaceflight. Since we are rapidly making the planet unlivable. Now the people in Louisiana want to move north unable to bear the heat.
> The soon-to-be-astronauts<p>Maybe this is just me, but I think we need a new word for people who pay to take a ride on a spacecraft but have nothing to do with the operation or mission of that spacecraft. "Payload" seems rude, perhaps "passengers"?<p>Whatever they are, they're not astronauts.