How Many Miles To Space

Nasa sets the boundary at 76 miles.

How many miles to space. The internationally agreed boundary of space is 100km or 62 miles. 400 000 ft 122 km nasa s re entry altitude for the space shuttle defined as the beginning of more significant atmospheric drag. In the us space begins at 80 4km 50 miles or 264 000 feet.

Although the united states does not have a defined boundary nasa considers the earth s atmosphere ending and beginning at 76 miles above the surface. The space industry lists 62 miles. The shortest distance between earth and space is about 62 miles 100 kilometers straight up which by general accord is where the planet s boundary ends and suborbital space begins.

According to data collected by the university of calgary space begins and the earth s atmosphere ends at 73 miles above the earth s surface. However other countries and agencies have a differing opinion on where space begins. The boundary is sometimes called the kármán line after the person that first calculated it.

Others place the marker at an astronomical 13 million miles. Determining the boundary of outer space is fraught with scientific and political issues. 450 mi 700 km the thermopause exobase end of collisional atmosphere.

Nasa s web site will check the telemetry from the space station and gather its exact latitude and longitude as it orbits about 200 miles over the earth traveling 17 500 miles an hour making one full orbit every hour and a half. By the same token space is often defined as beginning at the lowest altitude at which satellites can maintain orbits for a reasonable time which is approximately 160 kilometers 100 miles above. General international consensus sets a similar limit for the start of space as 100km 62 miles or 380 000 feet.

The number of miles required to reach outer space depends on whom is asked.