U.S. Transportation Secretary Discredits All-Female Blue Origin Space Crew

Sorry Katy Perry ... you and your fellow space travelers are no astronauts, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

Days after Katy, Lauren Sánchez, Gayle King, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyễn, and Kerianne Flynn made an 11-minute long excursion into space thanks to Blue Origin ... Duffy is telling them to get their heads out of the clouds -- because technically, they don't fit the FAA description of bona fide astronauts.

He took to X Thursday to express his feelings about the group of esteemed women being applauded as astronauts by Jeff Bezos' company, and the general public ... noting while they were certainly "brave and glam," they cannot be identified as astronauts because they did not demonstrate "activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety."

The FAA guidelines under the Commercial Space Astronaut Wings Program were updated in 2021 to include the essential activity requirement ... plus the rule that a flight must reach beyond 50 statute miles above the Earth's surface. Notably, the female flight crew did reach an altitude of 62 miles, meaning they crossed the internationally recognized boundary of space.

Interestingly, an FAA administrator said later in 2021 ... “The U.S. commercial human spaceflight industry has come a long way from conducting test flights to launching paying customers into space. The Astronaut Wings program, created in 2004, served its original purpose to bring additional attention to this exciting endeavor. Now it’s time to offer recognition to a larger group of adventurers daring to go to space.”

Duffy's comment comes as the female space trip receives harsh criticism for being an alleged gluttonous waste of money and polluting the environment ... for what many are calling a shallow marketing ploy.

Even fellow celebrities are wagging disapproving fingers at the space mission ... with Emily Ratajkowski describing it as "disgusting" and Olivia Munn questioning the point of the pricey trip during an appearance on "Today with Jenna and Friends," noting Americans "can’t even afford eggs."

Not everyone believes the women who traveled to space are to blame -- Jessica Alba suggested people should direct their hate at President Donald Trump instead.

Plus, we caught up with Gayle after the flight, and she proudly defended herself ... telling us her flight into space doesn't "take anything away from what's happening on Earth" and that people should educate themselves on all the incredible work Blue Origin is doing.