----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 1:47
PM
Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Re: Somewhat OT: Where
does space begin
> hey john
> thats not in the old
testament at all
Well, that's just because God put a stop to the
building of the Tower of Babel ;-)
> & i dont know of any upward limit on
sovereign air space
> except of course what one can practically maintain
control over
So, it's fair game if we can hit it with an
ASAT?
WHERE DOES SPACE BEGIN?
...
At 81 KM (50 miles) one government agency, the
United States
Department of Defense says that space begins because it awards all pilots
who fly above this altitude astronaut wings. This group not only includes all
the people who have flown the space shuttle and various other craft into space,
but also the X-15 pilots who flew above this altitude.
...
Surely you say, some international body must have declared where space
begins. International law states that there is no definitive point where the
atmosphere ends and space begins. The major space powers accept the following
definition: Space begins at " the lowest perigee attained by orbiting space
vehicles..."
Perigee is the closest approach point to the Earth in an elliptical orbit. A
potential challenge to this definition occurred in 1976 when eight equatorial
nations issued declarations of sovereignty over the geosynchronous orbit belt
which lies 35862 kilometers above the equator. Columbia, Equador, Brazil,
People's Republic of the Congo, Zaire, Kenya, Uganda, and Indonesia also stated
that they would defend such areas. But in 1980 the United Nations determined that such claims were
null and void because Outer space is international territory.
http://www.spacetoday.org/Questions/WhereIsSpace.html
"The generally accepted altitude where Space starts is
100 kilometers, which is 62 miles. "
This website however doesn't say who the generals are that accept this
definition
>
> worse yet
> because space
expands the farther from the earth you go
> the sizes of the countries are
actually bigger up there
>
> not sure that joke link is still
working tho
>
> --- In
href="mailto:BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com">BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "John
Seeliger"
> <
size=2>jseelige@a...> wrote:
> >
----- Original Message -----
> > From: "John Seeliger" <
jseelige@a...>
> > To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 1:22 PM
> >
Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Somewhat OT: Where does space
> begin
>
>
> >
> > > A few months ago, I watched a PBS program
on the great
> ballon race, and at
> > > one time, a Remax
team was planning an around the world
> attempt in a large
> >
> ballon that would fly at an altitude of 125 or 150,000 feet,
>
leaving
> > > Australia and travelling slowly westward. My
question is how
> high does a
> > > nation's airspace
go? At what altitude would a ballon, plane,
> rocket have
>
> > to travel before it could legally over a country without its
>
permission.
> > >
> > > Oh, BTW, they wisely decided not
to do the voyage. First they
> had gone
> > from
>
> > five guys to four to save weight, but then (having trouble
>
bailing out of
> > a
> > > capsule in a space suit)
scrapped the mission entirely.
> >
> > BTW, this reminded me
of a SNL joke that I didn't find until
> sending this:
> >
> > http://www.fallon-infomedia.com/quotessnl.html:
> >
> > "an Australian man, Rodd Milner, announced
that next March
> he plans to
> > skydive 25 miles above the
earth reaching speeds over a
> thousand miles an
> > hour and
breaking the sound barrier. And in future new...Rodd
> Milner is
dead
> > "
> >
> > John
Seeliger
Limited but increasing content
> > jseelige@y...
<http://www.freewebz.com/hudathunkett/>
> > jseelige@a...