William Shatner Launches into Space in 16 minutes.

[NCC1701A]

Blue Horizon Live:

 

[Bob20]

They said working towards millions of people in space. Did they hire TAT?

[Convert54]

If only Spock was there to rescue  him !

[JamesE]

I wish they would stop calling these one-minute wonders "astronauts". They did not travel in space, they merely traveled to space. Maybe "astourist" with the plural being "astourix".

[Convert54]

53 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

1 hour ago, NCC1701A said:

Blue Horizon Live:

Very weird soundtrack!

Wow ! Not !

[HolyCowCm]

William Shatner brought to tears. Too bad I will never be in the elite boys club. I would jump in a second to do it. But I would actually want more that a minute up there so I could really be called an astronaut. 

[Rookiescot]

She canny haundle it captain :P

[DrPhibes]

12 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

She canny haundle it captain :P

What? Did he shat-ner his pants from where no man has gone before!?  

[Rookiescot]

16 minutes ago, DrPhibes said:

What? Did he shat-ner his pants from where no man has gone before!?  

Had trouble with Kling ons apparently. 

Hey 90 years old and signs up for this? He's a trooper for sure. 

[Bob20]

1 hour ago, HolyCowCm said:

William Shatner brought to tears. Too bad I will never be in the elite boys club. I would jump in a second to do it. But I would actually want more that a minute up there so I could really be called an astronaut. 

You wanna ride the red one or the blue one?

[kerryd]

Technically, as they will be above the "Kármán line" (which is the generally accepted delineation between Earth's atmosphere and "space"), that is all they need to do to be officially considered "astronauts".
The Kármán line is basically 100kms above sea level.

At the time that limit was defined, it was determined that was the highest altitude that aircraft could fly. The higher you go, the faster you have to fly in order to maintain "lift". Back in the 50s, they determined (mathematically, based on the technology of the time) that aircraft would not be able to fly higher than that, as they'd have to travel so fast the friction would cause them to overheat.

Think of the SR-71 Blackbird. It only flew to around 26 kms above sea level, as speeds up to Mach 3.2.
At that altitude and speed, the external temperatures reached over 260⁰ Celsius (500⁰ Fahrenheit). 

In 2005  the US decided to lower the standard to be considered an astronaut.
"The U.S. Armed Forces definition of an astronaut is a person who has flown higher than 50 miles (80 km) above mean sea level, approximately the line between the mesosphere and the thermosphere."

However, this would still be considered "sub-orbital" as it has been determined that you have to be higher than 125kms in order to maintain a circular "orbit". (An elliptical orbit can be achieved around 100km.)

So Shatner will be officially considered an "astronaut" though personally I wouldn't crow about it when you've barely gone 100 kms into "space" for just a couple of minutes.

And not even on a ship/craft named "Enterprise" !!

[NCC1701A]

7 minutes ago, kerryd said:

So Shatner will be officially considered an "astronaut" though personally I wouldn't crow about it when you've barely gone 100 kms into "space" for just a couple of minutes.

good comment. i hope at 90 years of age i can do the things he is doing. stood around in the desert after the flight for a long time and described the flight off the top of his head. sounded sharp as a tack.    

and lets not forget these flights are incredibly dangerous. 

[gummy]

3 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

good comment. i hope at 90 years of age i can do the things he is doing. stood around in the desert after the flight for a long time and described the flight off the top of his head. sounded sharp as a tack.    

and lets not forget these flights are incredibly dangerous. 

Was it really him or just US propaganda with a young guy impersonating him ?

[NCC1701A]

7 minutes ago, gummy said:

Was it really him or just US propaganda with a young guy impersonating him ?

i want you to watch this closely:

 

[kerryd]

8 minutes ago, gummy said:

Was it really him or just US propaganda with a young guy impersonating him ?

Probably all faked using CGI and a secret CIA film studio. 

[Poolie]

13 hours ago, JamesE said:

I wish they would stop calling these one-minute wonders "astronauts". They did not travel in space, they merely traveled to space. Maybe "astourist" with the plural being "astourix".

Astourist eh?

I hear Hua Hin is bursting with them.

[Poolie]

1 hour ago, kerryd said:

Probably all faked using CGI and a secret CIA film studio. 

Surely your not suggesting that America would lie about this?

I might need to go and lay down for a while, just to let that info sink in.

[DrPhibes]

3 hours ago, kerryd said:

Technically, as they will be above the "Kármán line" (which is the generally accepted delineation between Earth's atmosphere and "space"), that is all they need to do to be officially considered "astronauts".
The Kármán line is basically 100kms above sea level.

At the time that limit was defined, it was determined that was the highest altitude that aircraft could fly. The higher you go, the faster you have to fly in order to maintain "lift". Back in the 50s, they determined (mathematically, based on the technology of the time) that aircraft would not be able to fly higher than that, as they'd have to travel so fast the friction would cause them to overheat.

Think of the SR-71 Blackbird. It only flew to around 26 kms above sea level, as speeds up to Mach 3.2.
At that altitude and speed, the external temperatures reached over 260⁰ Celsius (500⁰ Fahrenheit). 

In 2005  the US decided to lower the standard to be considered an astronaut.
"The U.S. Armed Forces definition of an astronaut is a person who has flown higher than 50 miles (80 km) above mean sea level, approximately the line between the mesosphere and the thermosphere."

However, this would still be considered "sub-orbital" as it has been determined that you have to be higher than 125kms in order to maintain a circular "orbit". (An elliptical orbit can be achieved around 100km.)

So Shatner will be officially considered an "astronaut" though personally I wouldn't crow about it when you've barely gone 100 kms into "space" for just a couple of minutes.

And not even on a ship/craft named "Enterprise" !!

This is more my speed for experiencing the edge of space!  Hopefully the bar on board will serve Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters!:

https://www.space.com/world-view-space-tourism-stratosphere-balloon

[HolyCowCm]

I’ve only ever made it to being an airport and helicopter here.