Question The closest you've been to space?

[n72.75]

Around 90 kilometers, probably.

I live about 98.5 kilometers away.

Wait, what?

 

[C3PO]

Wait, what?

I guess he lives around 1500m above MSL. :lol:

 

[ryan]

I'm unsure how high i've been, but for sure on a commercial flight. I didn't take much notice of the sky then because this was before i was intrested in space related things.

 

[Zatnikitelman]

14,121ft. I took the cog railway to the top of Pikes Peak which is 14,115ft above sealevel, I stood 6ft above the ground then.

 

[ryan]

14,121ft. I took the cog railway to the top of Pikes Peak which is 14,115ft above sealevel, I stood 6ft above the ground then.

Your ears must of loved you that day:lol:

 

[Izack]

Well, I live on the Earth and the Earth is in space...

But how far away from the Earth have I been? Around 36000ft on a commercial airliner, the same as pretty much everyone else here.

 

[DanM]

I went to 38,000 ft flying home from Boston. I would like to go on a ride in a fighter jet some day.

 

[n72.75]

I managed to get up to around 4100ft hiking.

 

[Keatah]

Check out www.thundercity.com - they offer 60 second vertical climbs to 50,000 ft in an English Electric Lightning in Cape Town, South Africa!

That's about the closest to a rocket launch you can get, without actually doing one!

I shall have to check this out! For only $10k USD you can get a ride. And you can always cajole the pilot into taking you higher than what they advertise! It's as much fun for him as it is for you!

Meantime, this was from a recent flight, I have no idea how high we went, but the pilot came on the intercom and said we'd be climbing way high above some serious weather.

 

[Turbinator]

I flew on 5 Transatlantic flights at an altitude of 42,000 feet. That is 12.80km.

Coincidently, there are 5 transatlantic routes, that all airlines fly on.

.

 

[Keatah]

About those "space adventure" operations. With the mig-25 no longer taking you to 90,000 ft. I gotta ask, is it worth it to spend 15 grand for a zoom climb to 55-60,000 ft? As far as seeing black above you with stars and the curved earth below, well now, 60,000 ain't all that high, and is certainly not the edge of space, let alone the edge of the universe! Yeh, one of the sites says that! Edge of the Universe, frak!!!!! I could get higher by tying a bunch of balloons to my car or something!

And why do we gotta travel half-way around the globe for a ride? Can't we like do this from the local airport or something ? ? Seems these types of activities are nowhere to be found in the U.S.

 

[Dambuster]

I actually was lucky enough to get to fly on Concorde about 10 or 12 years ago...I don't remember it too well, but it was quite amazing. Those were in the good ol' days when they still let people into the cockpit!

If I can locate a picture or two, I'll post them at some point.

 

[Carmen A]

... in my dreams, of course!

 

[OrbiterSpore]

Orbiter... and an commercial airliner. No photos tough...

 

[Keatah]

Orbiter... and an commercial airliner. No photos tough...

well go on! make us some screenshots!

Use a virtual camera in a virtual simulation.

 

[Moach]

~35k feet, as most of you...

my dad and grandparents did get to ride on the Concorde, but nowadays our generation can hardly look forward to doing the same.... quite a shame really.... :shrug:


...and, when i was little i did get to visit the KSC - tho that's not actually IN space.... but there's a ton of stuff that's been there

 

[george7378]

...and, when i was little i did get to visit the KSC - tho that's not actually IN space.... but there's a ton of stuff that's been there

That reminds me - I, and I'm sure many others who have visited the KSC, got to touch a piece of the Moon - that could be seen as being even closer to space.

 

[ex-orbinaut]

I would say, the Mount Everest is already tough enough for most Orbiteers.

Olympus Mons isn't really a climbing challenge (Like the Kilimanjaro), it just takes a week to the top already because of the distance.

I believe, measured as radial distance from the center of the planet, Chimborazo, in Ecuador, is "higher" than Everest. Yeah, because of equatorial bulge, you all know about that. Therefore, it is the point of solid Earth where you could stand that extends farthest into space.

The top of Tungurahua, the highest I have been on foot.

Otherwise, anywhere between FL 290 to FL 390, everyday.

 

[GoForPDI]

I remember being in London, visiting the Science museum they have there. I completely missed the Apollo 10 CM that they had there

 

[bujin]

Like most people, my closest approach to the "vacuum" of space would be from an airliner. But IIRC, my plane only got to about 33,000 ft. And that was all the way to Australia and back.