Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian Curtis
80,000 feet is not space. It isn't even really near space, space starts at roughly 330,000 feet (100 km) by today's definition. The Russian Mig-25 can cruise at 80,000 feet and we've flown drones that are powered by propellers to nearly 100,000 feet! Furthermore, balloons lift by buoyancy, and it is awful hard to be less dense than the nothingness of space!
I think it is awesome that these kids launched this balloon -- don't get me wrong. I just think these kinds of distinctions are important, and I think the people that cover technical things like this should get it right. Even the BBC originally reported this balloon as going all the way to space. If a couple of kids could do it for $400, NASA could get a lot more bang for the $20 billion bucks they spend every year. |
Sometimes I wonder if members of the media actually do any research on their subjects (it would go a long way to explaining why they always get so many facts wrong when they talk about FIRST). Either they don't have the time, the manpower or the resources to dedicate actually knowledge to their story or they are just aiming for sensationalism to get people to click the link.