Back in the early 1960s the USAF determined the boundary where space begins is 50 miles from sea level. So by definition, anyone who passes that 50 mile make is an astro (star) naut (sailor).
From Wikipedia. . .
An astronaut (from the Greek "astron" (ἄστρον), meaning "star", and "nautes" (ναύτης), meaning "sailor") is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally reserved for professional space travelers, the terms are sometimes applied to anyone who travels into space, including scientists, politicians, journalists and tourists.
I may be old school but the title
Astronaut should be reserved for the professionally trained. Does this mean since Branson and soon Bezos will wear Astronaut wings?
On a side note . . . I disagreed with NASA when they made John Glenn wear a mission specialist wings on his 1998 return to space on the Space Shuttle. He earned Gold Astronaut Pilot wings in 1962 as the first American in orbit, when there was only a 75% chance of success. He should have been allowed to wear both wings. Not uncommon to see two sets of wings on a uniform (though usually Jump and Pilot.)
It seemed disrespectful to make the First American, Second Man in orbit wear Mission specialist (passenger) wings. When Congressmen went to space (a
PR stunt, no way they were engaged -or trained- in real science) they were awarded Mission Specialist wings. Ok sorry. . . didn’t mean to hijack.