The truth is, the definition has to be arbitrary. There’s no distinct point at which there suddenly goes from being atmosphere and therefore Earth to being no atmosphere and therefore space. The Kármán line is chosen because it is a nice round number roughly where aerodynamics stop being useful in planning spaceflight missions.
They did reach space, as defined by a relatively arbitrary international agreement.
But yeah, passengers are not astronauts any more than I’m a pilot for buying a ticket on Air Asia to KLIA2.
Fair point! :)
The truth is, the definition has to be arbitrary. There’s no distinct point at which there suddenly goes from being atmosphere and therefore Earth to being no atmosphere and therefore space. The Kármán line is chosen because it is a nice round number roughly where aerodynamics stop being useful in planning spaceflight missions.