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.)
During his regulatory career, Nield—a former Air Force officer who also worked at NASA and the Orbital Sciences Corporation—served in an unusual two-part role as the administrator of the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation: He was charged with both ensuring public safety and promoting the fledgling commercial space transportation industry. The state of the industry today suggests he succeeded at each. In July, Reason’s Katherine Mangu-Ward sat down with Nield to discuss his childhood dreams of space, the state of the industry, and what the future holds.
Reason: You flew on Blue Origin’s New Shepard. It was a suborbital flight. What was that like?
Nield: I was interested in aviation and space as a child and used to cut out newspaper articles and pictures in Life magazine of the space chimps and the Mercury astronauts.
I did apply to NASA to become an astronaut and twice made the final cuts—was invited down to Houston for a physical exam and an interview and so forth—but did not make that last selection. I did have an opportunity to work at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on the shuttle program, which was very exciting, and had other roles in industry, and then at the FAA. I thought: “Boy, that really would’ve been neat to actually have a chance to go into space, but it’s looking like I probably won’t get
