Question The closest you've been to space?

[george7378]

Hi everyone,

I know that there are a variety of ways to get into space, or at least very close to it. It amazed me to discover that it is possible to really see the thinning of the atmosphere when you fly in something as simple as a commercial airliner - I noticed a very dark blue tinge to the sky when I pressed my face on the window at 36,000 feet in Summer, to get a view of the highest parts of the sky. I also looked at some photos of flights from a few years ago, before I really knew to look out for things like that, and the skies really look dark when compared to the skies as seen from the ground. The approaching Summer will see me flying to Florida, so the altitude should top 36,000 feet and I am hoping to get another view of the darkened skies that I have only just begun to appreciate. I was wondering whether any of you have photos like the ones below, which show you the darkening of the sky when you are in an airliner? What is the closest you have been to space itself?

Here are the pictures from Summer - there is a nice gradient from white to blue to dark blue which looked very different to anything I have seen on the ground:

 

[Rtyh-12]

I've never been anywhere above ~10 km. Sigh.

Edit: Except Orbiter, of course...

 

[N_Molson]

Same here, but 10-11km (airliners cruise altitude) is enough to see that "dark blue tint". Above 10km, the atmosphere is thin...

The MIG-31 can bring you to 21-23km of altitude for 16,900€ :

http://www.bestrussiantour.com/jet_flights/edge_space_mig31

If I had money, I'd like to try this

And, for 100,000$, you can try the suborbital flight, which brings you to 100km for a few minutes (in real space) :

http://www.spaceadventures.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=suborbital.welcome

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

36,000 ft for me.

Anyone here ever been on Concorde - 50,000 ft?

 

[garyw]

I've been on Concorde but it was part of a static ground display. I might have a few screenshots from a Concorde video of the atmosphere though.

Highest for me would also be the 36,000ft mark.

 

[Hmuda]

~12000 meters (commercial jet airliner). I also saw the shadow of the Earth in the atmosphere last august. We were flying to Paris from NYC, and dawn caught us above the French shores. The weather was damp, almost foggy, but the ground was still visible. After sunrise the shadow was clearly visible in the air.

It was similar to this picture, but the angle was a bit higher and the shadow a bit less dark.

I only wish our camera was available because it was freaking awesome.

 

[flytandem]

http://www.flytandem.com/f18/Contents.htm
nice pic in the second to last chapter, "The Approach"
http://www.flytandem.com/f18/Approach.htm

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

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!

 

[Urwumpe]

2224m MSL - The Nebelhorn mountain in the Alps.

 

[N_Molson]

Too bad we don't have something like Olympus Mons (25km+) on Earth A pressurized train would be required to climb on the top, though.

 

[Linguofreak]

I think I've been to around 38,000 on airliner flights. Some of them get really close to 40kft.

 

[Urwumpe]

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.

 

[george7378]

There are some great ideas here - I like to believe that I will be able to afford a sub-orbital spaceflight if I work hard and save the pennies. I think my personal altitude record is above 40,000 feet when we flew to the Maldives and Canada in a B767 - I had a picture of the dark sky, but I can't find it. Most trans-atlantic flights fly above 40kft too, so I can't wait for next Summer when we should get above that. The ceiling of the 747 is about 44,000 feet, which should give you a pretty nice view of the atmosphere. The highest I have probably been without a plane is when I went to the rockies in Canada.

 

[GoForPDI]

Just some European commerical flights for me unfortunately

Although a clear late afternoon sky up here in the winter gives you a very nice colour gradient from light blue to a deep deep purple which makes you feel err.. ''high''

 

[Wishbone]

The closest I've been to space - probably 1 meter, standing next to the Energiya RD-170 (not firing, obviously).

 

[Unstung]

The highest I've cruised at is about 12 km.

Not from that specific flight, but:

Zoomed in to a 105mm equivalent (3.8x) and a high shutter speed. I think it was still climbing.

 

[Alexw95]

my parents have been 60,000 feet in the concorde in 1996 but the closist i have been is the 40000 feet in a hawaiian airlines 767 300

 

[Quick_Nick]

I've probably been about 6430000 meters. Oh, ApA... commercial flight within the country, 737.

 

[T.Neo]

Around 90 kilometers, probably.

I live about 98.5 kilometers away.

 

[C3PO]

Closest I've been to space? Orbiter :thumbup: