posted on Jul, 21 2003 @ 02:50 PM
I was reading this month's Focus magazine of science and discovery, and was drawn towards an article "At what point does space begin?",
which when you think of it is a good question, but you can't really get a straight answer out of anyone nowadays?
But this is what the bloke (Robert Matthews) was saying:
"More than 40 years after astronauts started exploring space, theres still no internationally recognized legal definition of where they have
ventured. NASA has long had a tradition of awarding anyone who reaches an altitude of 80km "astronaut's wing" certifying that they have been into
space. During the 1960's eight pilots from NASA's X-15 experimental rocket-plane were awarded this accolade, like the astronaut's of the Mercury,
Gemini and Apollo programmes. With pilot Joe Walker reaching a height of more than 100km on two flights in 1963. Most spaces experts agree that
missions to this altitude constitute genuine spaceflight, and it may yet become the legal standard, with lawyers in Australia last year becoming the
first to adopt 100km as the definition of where space begins"
I mean its not as though you can pull a tape measure out, and start counting, can you? And where would you stop and say, "This is outer space".
Anyone got any ideas where space starts????
blackwidow