Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

I noticed a few low-key stories in the media today (not on the front page) mentioning that today that the human presence in space went through a bit of a minor milestone, reaching 15 years of continuous habitation.

November 2, marked the 15th anniversary of the arrival of the first crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). There have been humans in space since then.

International Space Station Anniversary

Back at the end of 2000, some I was chatting with some friends over lunch, discussing the biggest stories of the year 2000. There were several stories, such as Bush's election as US President and the fact that we had all somehow miraculously survived "Y2K at the start of the year (which was going to throw us all back into the Stone Age when all the computers suddenly decided "00" meant the year was 1900 come New Year's Day.) One friends sugested that the big story was being overlooked: the permanent movement of humans into space.

Of course, we could all get bored with space next year, cut the budget (again), and forget the whole thing. But at least we started a 15 year streak.

I saw quite a few stories about this yesterday. Very cool!

No, we are NOT in space...the 'space' station has to be boosted up in its orbit from time to time because of drag from the atmosphere...look it up

in 1969 we went to the Moon...it's now 2015 and for the last 15 years the best we can do is play tinker-toys in low Earth orbit.

Hang your head and cry, humanity.

You're a pessimist, Spooky. They're in zero gee & getting space info. Considering how little funding NASA & the other space agencies get, it's damn impressive.

yep, I'm a pessimist.

Spooky1947 wrote: "No, we are NOT in space...the 'space' station has to be boosted up in its orbit from time to time because of drag from the atmosphere...look it up

in 1969 we went to the Moon...it's now 2015 and f..."

They are in space. If you are far enough away to not feel the effects of gravity and there is no air to breath, those are pretty good indications that you are in space. The distance from Earth to space is 100 KMs and the distance from Earth to the ISS is about 400 KMs. If you can achieve orbit rather than plummeting to the ground, you are in space. Just sayin'.

Technically they are only far enough away that they're still at about 90% of earth's gravity but they experience microgravity due to being in freefall. I agree that LEO is still space, though the boundary may be fuzzy.

I think there will be some percentage of gravity for quite a ways out. That's why we still have the moon and I'm sure no one will dispute the moon being in space.

Rose, we are NOT in space...in the first place, it ain't no vacume up there...there's enough air around the "space" station to cause enough drag to bring it tumbleing down...all these "space"-craft we send up there have to do a controlled burn while docked, else this excuse for a space station we have would fall out of the sky in a couple of years...not feel the effects of gravity...big deal, I can do that on the vomit comet, and THAT's not in "space"...our space program is a pice of junk...if we are not going to get serious and actualy DO something and GO somewhere, I say we scrap it...right now it's just a fancy jobs program

I'm with Rose. I googled 'define space in astronomy' & got this definition:
In astronomy and cosmology, space is the vast 3-dimensional region that begins where the earth's atmosphere ends. Space is usually thought to begin at the lowest altitude at which satellites can maintain orbits for a reasonable time without falling into the atmosphere.

The only question I have is what is the definition of "reasonable time"? Two years, twenty, fifty . . .?

Allynn wrote: "The only question I have is what is the definition of "reasonable time"? Two years, twenty, fifty . . .?"

That might well be more of an economic rather than scientific question, Allynn. The ISS is actually in the thermosphere, not even the exosphere, so the aurora borealis can be further out than it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosph...
Still, it's far enough out to qualify as space as far as I'm concerned. English is a sloppy language & often leads to fruitless arguments like this.