Federal Aviation Administration: No More Commercial Astronaut Wings, Too Many Launching

Future space travelers have been warned that no more commercial astronaut wings will be awarded from the Federal Aviation Administration after this year.

The FAA said it’s clipping its astronaut wings because too many people are now launching into space and it’s getting out of the astronaut designation business entirely.

The news comes one day ahead of Blue Origin’s planned liftoff from West Texas with former NFL player and TV celebrity Michael Strahan.

He and his five fellow passengers will still be eligible for wings since the FAA isn’t ending its long-standing program until Jan. 1.

NASA’s astronauts also have nothing to worry about going forward — they’ll still get their pins from the space agency.

All 15 people who rocketed into space for the first time this year on private U.S. flights will be awarded their wings, according to the FAA.

That includes Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson, as well as the other space newbies who accompanied them on their brief up-and-down trips. The companies handed out their own version of astronaut wings after the flights.