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> And I don't think 50-70 miles is going to be the norm. It is going to be for the foreseeable future, and I'll tell you two reasons why: 1. FAA and USAF cons
by input_sh 5y ago
> And I don't think 50-70 miles is going to be the norm.
It is going to be for the foreseeable future, and I'll tell you two reasons why:
1. FAA and USAF considers everyone that's been above 50 miles (~62 kilometres) as an astronaut.
2. Von Karman line (at 100 kilometres, or 62 miles) is the closest we have to the consensus over what constitutes "space".
We could've drawn it pretty much everywhere because Earth's atmosphere disappears gradually, but these are nice round numbers previously agreed upon.
Therefore, if you're after commercial space flights (like Bezos and Branson are), that's the minimum you need to do to be able to charge millions for a "space flight". There is no incentive to go above that for commercial purposes.