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Paper Airplane Touches Edge of Space, Glides Back

Posted by timothy on from the face-of-god-next-step dept.

itwbennett writes "Brits Steve Daniels, John Oates and Lester Haines just became the envy of geeks the world over. The trio 'built a one-wing glider from paper, lofted it to the edge of space at 90,000 feet with a helium balloon, and posted sound and video recordings from the plane as it glided safely back to the ground,' writes blogger Kevin Fogarty. The Register newspaper sponsored the stunt and reported each step of the process. And British defense-contractor Qinetiq supplied the cameras and testing chambers, says Fogarty."

3 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. Re:That's pretty cool. by SixDimensionalArray · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would hope that we would rather consider the meaning of the fact that the general public has an interest in reaching space again, and by doing it themselves. Sure, maybe a balloon to the upper reaches of the atmosphere is not anywhere close to launching an Atlas rocket, but I for one am glad that people are still dreaming, and experimenting!

  2. Re:Jet streams? by sznupi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A bit similarly to how you can, in fact, breathe inside a speeding bullet-train or an airplane. Speed relative to the ground isn't everything...

    --
    One that hath name thou can not otter
  3. Re:Jet streams? by sznupi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do you really think it's a wall of speeding air, without quite gentle (especially for a very small object) transition?... (plus, think: dainty balloons survive it routinely - in fact, the story mentions one)

    --
    One that hath name thou can not otter