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.
It would be wise to consider the reasoning behind the statement rather than the statement itself. Sometimes they are right... other times their statement is incomplete... and other times they really do have no clue what they are talking about. - dtengineering [more] 
29-01-2012, 14:59
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