Something was missing from Blue Origin Suborbital Spaceflight... 

Going on a carnival ride doesn't make one an astronaut.

100% agree on referring to them as astronauts. It’s like if I drove an F1 car 10 feet, then being reffered to as an F1 driver. High altitude tourist might be more fitting. My two cents.

I agree with you Ellie. NONE of these "powered bungee jumpers" are astronauts! STOP calling them that. It is a disrespect to real astronauts.

I hate these joyrides. I also can't stand when they call them astronauts. It does a BIG disservice to all the astronauts that trained hard and some gave their lives (Grissom, Chaffee and White as well as Challenger and Columbia astronauts).

The Blue Origin Pogo Jump is more like a carnival ride than a true Astronaut experience

An 8 minute "Spam in a can" joyride does not make you an astronaut. It cheapens what those who have dedicated and sacrificed years of study, discipline, training and risk to become real astronauts have gone through.

To be honest, I have no interest in how a billionaire takes some of his buddies and the allocated commoner on an adult roller coaster ride. I think 'Team Space" is a dangerous mindset to have in this industry; there should be no 'participation trophies" in the space industry.

Basically, a high priced carnival ride.

Negative. I have been following space exploration since 1962 when I was 5. I have seen Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Space Shuttle, SpaceX. The BO Sub-orbital is boring

"Welcome back, astronauts!" ... they were coming back, regardless, unlike the Starliner crew.

They are not astronauts

If you wouldn't cover people on bungee jumps, then you shouldn't cover these BO launches either because that's all it is...a glorified bungee jump. Still shocking to me that after two decades worth of work, this is all that Blue Origin can say they've accomplished. And they still have yet to reach orbit!

A New Shepard suborbital flight bares little comparison to an orbital mission like Polaris Dawn, but I think they're a plus overall for Blue Origin who are learning about how to handle crew and how to perform propulsive landings. Blue may be frustratingly slow in their development and reluctant in their transparency, but Jeff Bezos has significant funds to put into the company so I'm hopeful they'll make a positive contribution to commercial spaceflight eventually

For all you haters out there: I'm a doctor now, because I gave my wife some painkillers for her headache. This is how it works, right? Right? 😕😕

You can tell a lot about a company by how public they are about there mistakes. SpaceX livestreams everything and doesn't try to hide their failures but publishes there mistakes for everyone to see. That's the difference between Trustworthy and Shady

Elon: Space is easy, orbit is hard.

In my opinion you have to make at least 1 orbit in the vacuum of space around our planet to be called an Astronaut.

1) Tourists are not "astronauts" 2) Passengers are not "crew" 3) A sightseeing tour is not a "mission" I'm a big fan of space tourism and I'm 100% in favor of private/commercial spaceflight, but I will keep saying this as long as Blue Origin (and Virgin Galactic) keeps trumpeting them as "astronauts". Pretending that passengers engaging in an expensive, 10-minute, costumed role-play are the same as actual astronauts is not merely distasteful, it's Stolen Valor.

I liked the part where they were screaming in terror. 😂 It's a very expensive roller coaster. Whoever that was got their money's worth.

The whole thing with these joy riders saying they have been to space or are astronauts is like driving through the campus at Yale University then telling everyone you went to Yale.

I wouldn't mind watching this kind of flight, because it shows how far behind they are behind the real things.

Totally right, these people are astronauts like passengers are airline pilots because they were in the plane.

I'm pretty much only paying attention to Starship, or Falcon Heavy launches.

Glad you covered it but blue origin offers nothing except lawsuits

As to the latest NASA/Boeing "screw the pooch" debacle, it looks like Elon and SpaceX are going to have to ride in to the rescue. Maybe Elon should add the condition that each SpaceX mission to the space station should include at least 2 members from the SpaceX development group and/or the Mars mission development group. That will give at least some of those 2 teams some experience and insight into how things really are in an off world situation which is needed because it is NOT EASY for someone to conceive, design and develop strategies and equipment for environments and situations that they have never experienced themself. Lets face facts, since Apollo and the space shuttle, NASA and the rest of the gang have pretty much been resting on their laurels and doing pretty much nothing else.

It's Ridiculous They Call Them Astronauts Personally It's Insulting Because Astronauts Train For Years, And These Just Go Up And Straight Back Down They Not Astronauts In My Own Personal View.

In my opinion, yes, they do go to space (above the Karmann line), but they are NOT astronauts, they are passengers on a really expensive theme park ride.

I'll be honest, Blue Origin's secrecy has been kind of suspicious. Especially in relation to SpaceX.

I don't blame you for not going. Its news for a slow news day but I wouldn't go out of my way to cover it.

By this definition of Astronaut I am an aquanaut, race car driver, helicopter pilot, mountain climber and a few other things I've done at least once. Two minutes in space does not make one an astronaut. New Shepard was only interesting as it was a stepping stone to New Glenn. When will the first New Glenn astronauts fly?

First of all, I'm interested in ALL space/rocket related coverage. However, as you said, astronauts and the civilian astronauts like SpaceX sends up undergo a lot of training. With the understanding that the actual Astronauts go thru an even more intense training... some even years. These are astronauts but, going on what equals to a carnival ride should not hold the same distinction. Love the content.. keep it up.

I would rather watch a falcon land then waste my time watching a craft barely get to space and costing so much money for 10 minutes of non flight.

Man, at 4:50 it sounds like some kind of Alien attack from a Ridley Scott movie. Face huggers for everyone.

I'm happy for these first adopters who are paying the premium price now so that it will get cheaper in the future for others.

A New Shepard suborbital flight bares little comparison to an orbital mission like Polaris Dawn, but I think they're a plus overall for Blue Origin who are learning about how to handle crew and how to perform propulsive landings. Blue may be frustratingly slow in their development and reluctant in their transparency, but Jeff Bezos has significant funds to put into the company so I'm hopeful they'll make a positive contribution to commercial spaceflight eventually.

Astronauts have responsibilities during flight. Their only responsibility is to not puke. Not astronauts.

I am not particularly interested in the New Shepherd. It seems more like a stunt than anything significant.

Official definition: An astronaut is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. So you don't even have to go to space to be called an astronaut, on one hand and on the other hand you can go a 1000 times to space and still you aren't an astronaut (hop, orbital, space station, moon, mars, whatever).

This program is a Joke! They are not astronauts. They are Passengers!

Cool but its an expensive amusement park ride imo

If you are paying for a ride, you are not an astronaut.

Well done and excellent commentary. Thank you! Lots of love to all.❤❤❤

Where was the retro thrust on the capsule before landing? Did I miss seeing it??

im so glad you mentioned the hotmics right after booster touchdown, those comms scared the hell out of me and i've seen virtually no one talk about it!

Blue origin is more of a novelty with no real purpose and contributes nothing but a thrill ride for people with money to burn. With that said, I have respect for what they do, and I hope that blue origin continues to be successful.

I enjoy your channel. I love everything Space/Rocketry related. I think it's worth covering these short, rather banal, Blue Origin Flights, even in a short video. Still entertaining and worth a watch.

very good carnival ride not a extended trip at least its an attempt at space watching

This is kind of like my kids wind up toys, watching him pull it back, then zoom across the living room floor... I was reminded of MXC the way the girl come out and stated "i went to space" If you don't know what MXC is, youtube is your friend, and I spent a lot of hours watching that show as a teenager.

As far as I'm concerned people going to sub-orbital flight should not be called astronauts. The rules for getting the astronaut badge should be reviewed.

Yes. I'm interested in this. The more folks go to space the better. Space travel FTW.

Good question. I don't really care about these kind of missions. More interesting would be New Glenn, but it troubles me that Blue Origin is dragging their timeline out for New Glenn.

I pay attention to BO launches, but I pay more attention to orbital launches.

When the Concorde was flying, I had no interest in seeing who paid for the tickets, this is the same thing. This is an exclusive amusement park and nothing more.

Thanks for posting this. It's good to have reporting on these missions... even if they aren't orbital. Other missions might be more important or draw more attention, but all these missions help space innovation, awareness, and move us forward toward exploring more of the universe. Keep it up!

I think this is fantastic. A small step on the path of opening space flight to the masses. A very small step but a step. This is not something that happens without lots of small steps so we should be happy about it!

You nailed it. Its a good side story. Thks for covering it.🖖

Yeah, they're not astronauts. They didn't really go to space. It's a load of bolloks really. I've been in rally cars, wouldn't dream of calling myself a rally car driver.

I like hearing about whatever is in the space news genre and this FOR SURE fits the bill. Keep covering all things space!

Compared to Polaris Dawn, this is more like putting a quarter in a mechanical pony at the mall.

I'm very interested in space tourism, and this looks like the beginning of that industry. So brief updates like this are great but Polaris Dawn is much more interesting! Cheers from Alaska

I would continue to cover these 10:00 min flights, it's part of the Space narrative and someday they may make it to 20 minutes per flight and further. Thanks for the content Ellie!

The Karman Line, at 100 km altitude, is the internationally recognised lower limit of space. All of the passengers on Blue Origin's New Shepard have completed a suborbital spaceflight. Just like Alan Shepard did back in 1961. There's no quibbling about that. (The Virgin Galactic pilots and passengers don't meet the criteria, since they barely get to 90 km -- close, but not space by international standards.) But I do think calling them "astronauts" is a bit much -- it's like calling all of the passengers flown by airlines "pilots". Astronauts (and cosmonauts, and taikonauts) are professionals in their field. An alternative term needs to be used, such as "space passengers" (like airline passengers). But, we also need to acknowledge that these space passengers do go through training before their flight -- unlike airline passengers! They not only make a substantial financial commitment to their flight but a significant commitment of time. And then there's also the researchers who are beginning to take advantage of these flights -- they are not mere thrill-seeking passengers.

I had heard that "Oh $HT, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!" And I got concerned too. Glad they all made it back!

I would refer to these folks as "having been in space". Joining the mile high club does not qualify you to be classified as an Airline Pilot. Terms like Astronaut, Engineer, Doctor, CPA, etc denote that an individual has received a certification , and is now qualified to perform a specific function in support of a specific goal. They are not just attendees, or passerby, they are involved. If you go to the Daytona International Speedway and buy a ticket for a couple laps around the track, I "have visited Daytona Beach, Florida and have driven on the actual Daytona Speedway track". I did not become a NASCAR Tace Car Driver.

you're absolutely right, they are not astronauts, maybe an amateur astronaut would be more accurate, just like i am an amateur astronomer. I think it's a cool ride.

A sub-orbital flight hasn't really counted as "going to space" since the early Mercury program. These passengers are still at the "spam in a can" level.

2:53 "I don't think anything that lasts 10 minutes is worth $28 million." There's a joke in there somewhere.

It takes guts to go up. However I definitely don't think the term astronaut should be used for space tourists. Its an insult to highly trained real Astronauts. From the US and other countries. New Shepherd atleast goes higher than virgin galactic, but the experience from both those companies is barely long enough to even call them space tourists. 😅 Too much money for a very short ride/experience.

Astronauts? more like astro NOTs

Supply vs demand is always going to dictate price. or A fool and their money are always easily parted. Take your pick.

World's most expensive amusement park ride.

By all means, give them their “space wings,” space is space whether you’re in orbit or not. But Astronaut is a title that should only be given to people who have gone up there to do actual work, not just filming some scenes for a movie, and definitely not joyriding. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the tourism. The more people go to space, for any reason, the more economical it will become and the more public interest will be generated, leading to greater development of technology and infrastructure. But movie stars and tourists aren’t doing vital research, maintaining spacecraft, and furthering our knowledge and ability to extend our reach into the cosmos. That is what astronauts do, and giving that title to a tourist belittles them and all their hard work and training.

The Vomit Comet impresses me more.

I love the fact they went to space, but for me, I'd love to do a few orbits before coming home.

This is like walking 10 ft out to the median of the interstate, then back, and say you made a cross country automobile trip.

Calling them astronauts is a slap in the face to every man and woman who trained and sacrificed for years for the honor to be an astronaut.

Yeah, I agree with those who don't see the value in covering these little excursions. It's actually kind of sick that people throw away so much money on such inconsequential undertakings. I'm sure it does look pretty impressive for a few minutes, but for such a momentary gratification? It's actually absurd.

Good question and one we need to discuss more. Surely an 'astronaut' is someone who achieves orbital flight - ballistic flights are just that, although that would exclude the Mercury/Redstone flights (although they did go on to orbital/Moon flights) and the X-15 flights. Maybe another metric would be for someone who is paid to- do that job with all the necessary requirements involved. 'Astronaut' is a job not a service you pay for. Perhaps that's the definition.

People with money, taking something and turning into another "influencer" type opportunity. Like when they are now turning "underconsumption" into a trend, when most of us call it living poor. It takes away from the honest, everyday work that many are doing to get astronauts (who must have degrees, get picked, training for years and constant learning) and turning it into a spectacle. Let alone all the science and education that is learned. Just call it tourism. Signed- someone who works with astronauts and works hard to make it happen.

I only watched this video because I was hoping you would say: -they’re no real astronauts -they’re not really going into space -there’s no way to justify the cost I wasn’t disappointed. Thank you 🙏

There used to be (and may still be) companies that will give you a zero-G ride in a specially designed airliner. You get multiple Zero-G experiences about 30 seconds each when the airliner flies a parabolic arc. And a few years ago it cost $5000. Even if I could afford $500K for Blue Origin I wouldn't spend it. Now 3 days in orbit on SpaceX (hopefully with a working lavatory) would be worth it.

I'm probably in the minority, but I'm more interested in the Virgin Galactic flights than Blue Origin. At least they're doing something different.

I always watch their launches live, it’s a great thing to open spaceflight to more people. But I generally don’t care who’s on those flights, except for Ed Dwight and William Shatner.

Good call on turning them down Ellie. Since they were so protective of their image it has to tell you something. Love your integrity.

Reminds me of the first consumer airplane flights.The passengers were very wealthy and only a few could afford to experience it.

Great coverage. I agree. It's not worth the price or danger for a 10 minute ride. I remember when my mother bought my father's mother a pink suitcase, when my grandmother's set was red. She flipped her Irish red wig! Pink & red don't match..

3:49 I love what Garrett Reisman (a real astronaut, not a passenger on a rocket for 10 minutes) had to say about seeing the Earth from the space station for the first time: "When I was ready I floated up to that window and I opened up my eyes and I gazed out for the first time at the Earth from space and what that felt like is really hard to describe in words but if I had to pick one word to describe what I was feeling at that moment it would be really just, "Meh..." I mean, it was pretty. It had a lot of those Earth colors like blues and greens right but I mean we've all seen pictures of the Earth from space...".

Welcome back Blue Originauts! Jeff likes to stand out; this ought to fluff his ego nicely! Seriously, to be classified an "astronaut", I believe three (3) orbits, at a minimum of 22 miles, would be justified to be called an astronaut. Why three orbits? You actually have at least one circular orbit out of the three, and not just a ballistic orbital path. Thus you were truly in a stable orbit for at least one revolution. You could have stayed in that orbital path with little to no additional energy (thrusters/engines). You actually need to do a "burn" (energy) to get out of it and slow down. Astronaut! 😺 I was surprised at that audio too...it made them sound like reavers from the movie Serenity. Spooky!!

Spending 10 minutes in a small tin can filled with screaming, yelling people would be my idea of hell... maybe that's why everyone celebrates when they get out at the end of the flight! These tourists are not astronauts, but they have done something that most of us won't get to do! The flights are interesting as part of the development of Blue Origin, and it remains to be seen if Blue really does achieve all or some of what has been promised!

Doing a passive joyride doesn't make you an astronaut, just as being an airline trip passenger doesn't make you a pilot.

Agreed! I find calling these paid passengers “astronauts” offensive. I worked on the Apollo space program and I find this to be more of a gimmick than a serious explanation of space. BTW, did anyone it else notice that there was a little bit of profanity slipping through the audio on the decent?

I never watch anything from Blue Origin. Just a carnival ride. They are so far behind SpaceX. I watch every single SpaceX launch.

Good on you for not accepting restrictions and lack of control they insist on for you to participate.

Thumbs up! This allows me to appreciate Space-X so much more, thanks

No they are not astronauts. And as for me I find Polaris and other space orbiting flights more interesting.

*So, one of the requirements when you got back from your high-altitude bungee jump with the Blue Origin rocket was that you had to act like a crazy lunatic out the door?*

Astronauts go through an extensive period of vigorous training, and besides are generally chosen for their level of expertise in multiple fields. Being wealthy enough to take a high-altitude ride is all very well, but calling them astronauts is an unearned title.

*Heck, I've gone higher jumping on my backyard trampoline!!*

7:15 Ive been obsessed with spaceflight for the past 15 years, and simultaneously i could not care less about these suborbital tourist hops. Calling them astronauts is a farce.

I think Blue Origin is up and coming, we need multiple private space operators for various purposes. Im all good, excited about the launch. I would like to see more progress with Blue Origin, however I'm confident they will meet their portion of NASA's contract to return to the moon