I love stories about school teams launching cameras on balloons and taking amazing pictures from high in the sky. But far too often, these events get billed as “pictures from space.” In the same vein, far too many news outlets have touted Felix Baumgartner’s recent record-breaking jump as being from “near-” or “the edge of-” space. This is a bit of hyperbole though, and while we geeks can be accused of nitpicking science from time-to-time, the record should be set straight. And so, popsci.com has put out the following, wonderful infographic:
Graphic by Emily Elert, popsci.com
You should obviously read more of the details on the popsci.com post, but the tl;dr is that even by the most generous definition, Mr. Baumgartner wasn’t even half way to space. That certainly shouldn’t take away from his achievement, but it’s nice to put it in its proper perspective.
[Originally spotted on io9.com]
