SpaceShipTwo Sets a New Altitude Record 117
An anonymous reader writes "Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo reached an altitude of 71,000 feet, beating out its previous record of 69,000 feet. From the article: 'This time around, Virgin Galactic and Mojave-based Scaled Composites, the plane's builder, tested a new reflective coating on the rocket plane's tail booms. The flight also marked the first tryout for a thruster system that's designed to keep the plane on course when it's above the atmosphere. Virgin Galactic said all of the test objectives were met.'"
New Altitude record? (Score:5, Informative)
a mere 71,000 ft?
Blackbirds flew hiher than that over 40 year ago
For the rest of the world (Score:5, Informative)
71,000 feet = 21640.8 meters
Re:For the rest of the world (Score:3, Informative)
Only that aircraft altitude is measured across the globe in feet, regardless of the unit system valid in each country.
Re:Is it really worth it? (Score:5, Informative)
Time spent in free-fall:
Roller coaster: a second or two?
Vomit Comet: 25 seconds
SpaceShipTwo: 6 minutes