Astronaut wings were first awarded in the early 1960s to the Mercury 7 astronauts Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Virgil “Gus” Grissom by the US Navy and the US Air Force, respectively. It became a ...

FAA's wings program came to be at the instigation of Patti Grace Smith, the agency's former associate administrator (now deceased) at the office of commercial space transportation.

The FAA said Dec. 10 that it would award two honorary astronaut wings to Peter Siebold and the late Michael Alsbury, the pilot and co-pilot respectively of the first SpaceShipTwo vehicle, VSS ...

Heads up, future space travelers: No more commercial astronaut wings will be awarded from the Federal Aviation Administration after this year. Skip to content NOWCAST WPBF 25 News Weekends at 8 a.m.

In the U.S., the FAA and the U.S. military awards astronaut wings to those who fly above 50 miles (80 km). However, NASA astronauts don't receive wings to qualify their astronaut status.

The FAA' s first commercial wings recipient was in 2004. Earlier this year, the FAA tightened up its qualifications, specifying that awardees must be trained crew members, versus paying customers ...

The FAA will award wings to all 15 people who have gone to space for the first time this year through U.S. private flights. Among the awardees are Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and Virgin ...

While some pilots donate their first officer wings to an unknown new pilot, others will specifically give their wings to someone they know.

The FAA created the Commercial Astronaut Wings Program in 2004 after Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipOne became the first private spacecraft to reach space.

The FAA' s first commercial wings recipient was in 2004.Earlier this year, the FAA tightened up its qualifications, specifying that awardees must be trained crew members, ...

Even though Jeff Bezos crossed into space on Tuesday, he still may not get his official astronaut wings from the federal government. On the same day as Blue Origin’s first human spaceflight, the ...