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Space.com's coverage includes the specific altitude [1], listing 88.4 km: "The space plane reached a maximum speed of about Mach 2.9 on Galactic-02 — 2.9 times

Space.com's coverage includes the specific altitude [1], listing 88.4 km: "The space plane reached a maximum speed of about Mach 2.9 on Galactic-02 — 2.9 times the speed of sound — and a peak altitude of 290,000 feet (88.4 kilometers) before heading back down to Earth. It aced a runway touchdown at Spaceport America around 11:32 a.m. EDT (1532 GMT)." This tracks with CBC News's estimate [2], which reports that the flight generally reaches an altitude of "more than 80 kilometres up," though the CBC's report does not include altitude numbers specific to this flight. [1] https://www.space.com/virgin-galactic-galactic02-launch-success https://www.space.com/virgin-galactic-galactic02-launch-succ... [2] https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/virgin-galactic-tourists-1.6932451 https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/virgin-galactic-tourists-1.6...

jacquesm 3y ago
Then they shouldn't be using 'space' in the title. If they're going to dilute that term then what's the point in having it in the first place.
- eagerpace 3y ago
  “Space” has a relatively arbitrary definition and these tourists vehicles have been designed to reach it just barely. Fun experience but they have little in common with orbital rockets.
- jgrahamc 3y ago
  This is going to be like hackers vs. crackers. We're going to try to fight for space to be > 100km and astronauts to be people who've been to space and we're going to fail. Especially since space in the US sometimes means > 80km and hence astronauts are people above 80km. I think we need a word for someone who's gone orbital into space.
  - cratermoon 3y ago
    Even aside from altitude and orbital vs sub-orbital, the term astronauts needs to refer to people who made a career out of going into and working in and with space flight. The people who pay money to go for a visit are tourists, nothing more. You wouldn't call someone who takes a 7-day cruise a sailor.
    - BitwiseFool 3y ago
      The comparison I like to use is that being a passenger on an airplane doesn't make someone an aviator.
    - npongratz 3y ago
      > You wouldn't call someone who takes a 7-day cruise a sailor. I wouldn't and you wouldn't and perhaps no one should, but coincidentally, Virgin Voyages cruise line does indeed call their customers "sailors": https://www.virginvoyages.com/help-and-support/the-days-at-sea/sailor-services https://www.virginvoyages.com/help-and-support/the-days-at-s...
      - cratermoon 3y ago
        At least they're consistent.
  - satvikpendem 3y ago
    Shall we revive the Soviet-era "cosmonaut?" By the way, For All Mankind is a great show.
    - positr0n 3y ago
      FWIW cosmonaut isn’t Soviet era, it's the Russian term for astronaut. Though I've never understood why in the West we use that essentially untranslated term* when we don't anglicize the Russian pronunciation of any other jobs. You won't read a news article about Russian "svarshchiks", you'd just translate that to "welder". * And now taikonaut for Chinese astronauts!
      - hgsgm 3y ago
        Cosmo means universe, and astro means star. Both are huge exaggerations of the capabilities of human spacefli5.
      - twelve40 3y ago
        I guess some lines of work are special like that! you could just say "a dude on a horse" instead of cossack, or a robber instead of a thug, but here we are...
    - Iwan-Zotow 3y ago
      You can't "revive" it because it is not dead

jacquesm 3y ago

Then they shouldn't be using 'space' in the title. If they're going to dilute that term then what's the point in having it in the first place.

eagerpace 3y ago
“Space” has a relatively arbitrary definition and these tourists vehicles have been designed to reach it just barely. Fun experience but they have little in common with orbital rockets.
jgrahamc 3y ago
This is going to be like hackers vs. crackers. We're going to try to fight for space to be > 100km and astronauts to be people who've been to space and we're going to fail. Especially since space in the US sometimes means > 80km and hence astronauts are people above 80km. I think we need a word for someone who's gone orbital into space.
- cratermoon 3y ago
  Even aside from altitude and orbital vs sub-orbital, the term astronauts needs to refer to people who made a career out of going into and working in and with space flight. The people who pay money to go for a visit are tourists, nothing more. You wouldn't call someone who takes a 7-day cruise a sailor.
  - BitwiseFool 3y ago
    The comparison I like to use is that being a passenger on an airplane doesn't make someone an aviator.
  - npongratz 3y ago
    > You wouldn't call someone who takes a 7-day cruise a sailor. I wouldn't and you wouldn't and perhaps no one should, but coincidentally, Virgin Voyages cruise line does indeed call their customers "sailors": https://www.virginvoyages.com/help-and-support/the-days-at-sea/sailor-services https://www.virginvoyages.com/help-and-support/the-days-at-s...
    - cratermoon 3y ago
      At least they're consistent.
- satvikpendem 3y ago
  Shall we revive the Soviet-era "cosmonaut?" By the way, For All Mankind is a great show.
  - positr0n 3y ago
    FWIW cosmonaut isn’t Soviet era, it's the Russian term for astronaut. Though I've never understood why in the West we use that essentially untranslated term* when we don't anglicize the Russian pronunciation of any other jobs. You won't read a news article about Russian "svarshchiks", you'd just translate that to "welder". * And now taikonaut for Chinese astronauts!
    - hgsgm 3y ago
      Cosmo means universe, and astro means star. Both are huge exaggerations of the capabilities of human spacefli5.
    - twelve40 3y ago
      I guess some lines of work are special like that! you could just say "a dude on a horse" instead of cossack, or a robber instead of a thug, but here we are...
  - Iwan-Zotow 3y ago
    You can't "revive" it because it is not dead