• Archangel@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    No. They weren’t “trained to travel in a spacecraft”. It was fully automated. They were just passengers on an 11 minute flight.

    Seriously, if that makes them astronauts…then everyone who’s been on an airplane, is a pilot.

    • tburkhol@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Yuri Gagarin’s flight was entirely automated. He went a bit higher and made a full orbit, but I’m pretty sure everyone agrees he’s an astronaut.

      • CaptainPedantic@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Sure, but he was the very first person to ever fly in space so that definitely counts for something. Additionally, he could control the spacecraft if there was an emergency.