For the first time ever, more people will go to space as commercial astronauts than as government astronauts in 2022. Admittedly, the government astronauts spent more total time off-world this year than their private counterparts—stints on the International Space Station (ISS) are long and space tourism hops are short—but given the state of the industry, those trends are unlikely to reverse anytime soon.
One of those commercial astronauts was George Nield. He retired four years ago as the head commercial space regulator at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and on March 31, 2022, he became a beneficiary of the industry he once regulated when he boarded Blue Origin's New Shepard for its fourth manned flight. (This flight attracted some additional press attention because it was also supposed to contain the tattooed comedian and adjunct influencer Pete Davidson, though he later pulled out.)
