There has been a significant debate about who is or isn't an astronaut for a while now. The first major debate from a legal perspective copped up in 2015 during negotiations over the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act.
https://twitter.com/EmreKelly/status/1417916029838274564
Congress was trying to figure out what to do about government employees that fly on commercial systems as part of their official duties, not as paying customers. Up to that point, we only had two categories of people on commercial flights, Crew and Space Flight Participants.
Congress ultimately created a new category of "Government Astronauts." Rather than define a government astronaut however, the law points to the NASA Administrator to decide who is a government astronaut and who is qualified to be called that (as defined by NASA regs.)
The distinction between Crew, SFP, and Government Astronauts is important because of the informed consent regime and the HSF learning period. The FAA's sole responsibility in licensing is to protect public health and safety and crew have a public safety mission under the license
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