How many miles is it to space?

Answer 1

It partly depends on who you ask; 100km is the official difference between aeronautics and astronautics. The US government call anyone whose been above 80km an astronaut. NASA designate 122km as the start of re-entry and scientists measuring the movement of ions (charged particles) give an altitude of 118km as the mid-point between "slow" ion winds of Earth and the fast ion winds in outer space.

Answer 2

If you Traveled 76 miles straight up from the ground, in the eyes of NASA you would have indeed reached outer space.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_space#boundary

However, The American Spy Plane Lockhead U-2, Travels at super high altitude's, to stay above radar detection. "Because of the high operating altitude the pilot must wear the equivalent of a space suit".

The U-2 has even been used to photograph the space shuttle before re-entry to asses damage to the craft.

The U-2 fly's at an altitude of 70'000 feet, (approx 14miles)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U2_spy_plane

Answer 3

13 billion years ago, the universe was more than 13 billion light-years across, because today we can see the light that left distant galaxies that long ago. Scientists measuring the microwave background from the theorized Big Bang have calculated the rough diameter of the universe "now" to be about 78 billion light-years. So at least the "matter occupied" universe seems to be larger now than it had been. The age of the universe has been estimated at up to 14 billion years, so matter formed in the Big Bang could not have traveled "faster than light" from its starting point to its current distance. Instead, the spacetime "fabric" of the universe has "stretched" or expanded outward.

Answer 4

Space begins at the end of the exosphere on Earth. The exosphere is the outermost layer of our atmosphere. (see answer at "What are the layers of the atmosphere?")

Read on for more information from WikiAnswers contributors: * Technically, by international convention, space is considered any point more than 100 km above the Earth's surface, for the awarding of astronaut wings to test pilots. But there are many varied considerations as to where the atmosphere actually ends and space begins. * People cannot survive much above 7 km or so due to insufficient oxygen, but that is definitely not considered "space". By the 100 km mark, it is essentially a vacuum. However, a satellite wouldn't orbit long there because of the drag of even the very diffuse atmosphere. At 150 km, a satellite could orbit for weeks without orbital decay. And at heights around 300 km, the trace gases are finally so thin that stable long-term orbits are possible. == == * There is no real boundary between the atmosphere and outer space. Even hundreds of miles up there are molecules of air. For a variety of purposes though, in order to formally demarcate the difference between air flights and space flights, the official boundary has been declared to be at 100 kilometers. * The orbits for most Space Shuttle missions are about 350 km, corresponding to the orbit of the International Space Station. Weather satellites are in very high geosynchronous orbits around 13,500 km, well above the atmosphere.

Answer 5

We're not sure. We don't even know how far out we need to go to include all of the "solar system". Do we include the Kuiper Belt, a vast shell of debris left over from the formation of the solar system? How about the Oort cloud, which extends even further? It might be necessary (but we do not yet know) to go out 0.5 LY to honestly include all the mass that is part of the solar system.

One good estimate would be to the edge of the heliopause, the area of the galaxy where the solar wind is predominant. Beyond that point, the dust and particle flows are more influenced by the mass of the galaxy than our star. This may be 100 to 150 AU, or 9.3 billion to 15 billion miles.

Define "Solar System".

If you mean "the orbit of Neptune", it's about 5.6 billion.

If you mean "the heliosheath", it's maybe 18 billion.

If you mean "the Oort cloud," who knows; 20 trillion is a reasonable upper limit.

Answer 6

Orbit:384.400 km. from Earth(240.250 miles)

Answer 7

Earth is in orbit around the sun...we're in space.

Answer 8

The Earth's atmosphere doesn't end abruptly, so there are different definitions. One of these definitions is that "space" or "outer space" starts 100 km from the surface.

Answer 9

Approximately 62 miles.

Answer 10

Space begins about 50 miles up.