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Paper Airplane Touches Edge of Space, Glides Back
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."
When you said "the edge of space" I thought you meant the border of the universe, so I was all WTF.
Sure, it's cool. But balloon stories are a dime a dozen right now, don't you agree?
And to be honest, it would have been more impressive if they didn't try to make it sound more impressive by using the word "space", but instead used the now neglected word "stratosphere".
Cause it wasn't even a third of the way up to the lowest common definition of the space "boundary", but a stratospheric paper plane? That's way cool!
Would it be any better for you if we made a Beowulf cluster of them? So that you can enjoy your petrified Natalie Portman with hot grits?
C|N>K
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!
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
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
Two six-digit accounts talking about the good ol' days of Slashdot. Precious!
The most rabid believers in American Exceptionalism are the exact same people whose policies are destroying it.