OPINION:
With Richard Branson’s excursion flight to see the curvature of the earth, the mainstream media is now proclaiming that “private citizens” can start to be called “astronauts.” This is just like kids’ sporting events in the past few decades: Everybody gets a trophy, which makes trophies meaningless (“Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson blasts off into space,” Web, July 11).
An astronaut is a person who becomes a hero for our young and shows the rest of us how dedicated planning, effort and training come together to enable a person to achieve a very high goal.
To support giving any private citizen the title astronaut because, at least for now, that person has sufficient millions to buy a seat on a flight to the edge of space is a direct affront to the Apollo 1 crew and the two space shuttle crews who gave their all in the effort to lift our civilization into the status of being space-faring.
Titles and trophies only have meaning when they define specific skills and/or accomplishments. If everybody gets one, like a participation trophy, no one cherishes the accomplishment.
JAMES KOUT
Bowie, Md.
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