First commercial astronaut

After the first successful space flight of Scaled Composites’ SpaceShipOne on 21 June 2004, her pilot, Mike Melvill (USA), was awarded the first commercial astronaut wings by the US Federal Aviation Administration.

Commercial astronauts are defined by the United States Federal Aviation Administration as individuals who have met three key criteria.

The first is that they have completed the level of training specified in title 14 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (part 460). This requires the crew to have trained for nominal and off-nominal conditions, abort scenarios and all other training (including pilot training) required to ensure that the vehicle does not pose a risk to the public.

The second is that they have flown in a spacecraft not operated by a government agency to an altitude greater than 50 miles (80.4 km).

The third, and most contentious, is that the individual must have "Demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety". This definition was added in July 2021, shortly before Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin This means that those who flew purely as passengers, with no ability to control the craft, and who did not undertake any research activity, are ineligible for astronaut wings.

Mike Melvill and later Brian Binnie qualified because they were in direct control of SpaceShipOne during its record-setting flights. The four pilots who have flown the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo also qualify, as does Beth Moses, who flew on Virgin Galactic Flight VF-01. She was a passenger, but qualifies because she was on the flight as part of her role as the safety trainer for future passengers.