Rebuffed at being the first billionaire in space, Jeff Bezos and his mouthpieces have turned on Richard Branson’s accomplishment and said quite plainly that Branson never reached space.
Bezos argument says that to enter space you have to pass the Karman line at 62 miles above the earth. The Karman line is recognized in more parts of the earth than American reckoning of where space begins.
Branson went by the American reckoning of 50 miles as the boundary for space. But isn’t 62 miles a more fundamental measure than the simple 50 the Americans chose?
Both are lazy definitions. I’m not sure which side chose first but 50 miles is obviously an easy to pick number. But did you know the Karman line is really just 100 kilometers above the earth? It sounds even more lazy than the American definition. Probably because it is. If I were Karman, I would be embarrassed that they lazily picked my name for that line.
It’s basically just a spat over which is better, imperial measurements or metric measurements.
I am embarrassed that I chose my own name for the following definition. Yes, the Russwurm line is 100 miles above sea level. It is my definition for the beginning of space.
Yes, Jeff Bezos, you are being outsnobbed. Your rocket only goes a bit above the Karman line. But this is nowhere near the 100 miles of the Russwurm line. So by all definitions of the beginnings of space you have not achieved what you set out to achieve.
If Richard Branson didn’t go to space, neither did you, Jeff Bezos. That’s what happens when you pin your ambitions on something so arbitrary as the beginning of space. Good luck with your sub space mission on Tuesday.
