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Civilian Space Launch Imminent

Posted by timothy on from the when-can-we-honeymoon-on-the-moon dept.

rossjudson writes: "Looks like the Civilian Space Exploration Team has gotten clearance from the FAA and the Bureau of Land Management to attempt the first amateur flight into space. That's pretty cool. Maybe one of you space-mathematics types out there can educate us on just what 0-Mach 5 in 15 seconds really means! Is this thing gonna just blow up?"

2 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Here's the numbers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Mach is such a stupid point of reference. It depends on the density of air, so as your altitude increases the "Mach" number changes for the same physical speed. I wish they'd just use mph or kph or something more obvious.

  2. Re:Am I the only one by Myco · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, certainly they could spend more money and time to do something flashier than a quick up-and-down. But the purpose of this mission is to make history, to have the first civilian space flight, and that's no mean feat. It's not just so that they can say they did it -- that's a means to an end. It's to open up the door, make people realize it can be done, get other people working on the big, flashy projects. Since the purpose is to get the ball rolling, I think they chose right by doing it quick and simple rather than delaying to add more features to the mission.

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