Commercial astronaut the 12 months prior to the proposed qualifying flight will be included as a minimum standard. FAA Commercial Astronaut Wings have been awarded to SpaceShipOne pilots Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie and to Virgin Galactic Unity pilots Mark Stucky and CJ Sturckow. Commercial astronaut A commercial astronaut is a person trained to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a privately funded spacecraft. This is distinct from an otherwise non-government astronaut, for example Charlie Walker, who flies while representing a non-government corporation but with funding and/or training coming from government sources. The definition of “astronaut” and the criteria
Chinese as a foreign language were studying the language in US colleges and universities. While far behind the more than 800,000 students who study Spanish, the number is more than three times higher than in 1986. The Institute's report includes graphs and details on the popularity of other languages. As of 2008, China had helped 60,000 teachers promote its language internationally, and an estimated 40 million people were studying Chinese as a second language around the world. Other than Standard Mandarin, Cantonese is the only other variant of Chinese that is widely taught as a foreign language. It is the official language of Hong Kong