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The End of an Era
(thelemmy.club)
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this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2026
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So if orbiting earth doesn't count as "on earth", why does sitting in a plane just couple hundred kilometers away count?
The limit of space is widely defined as 100 km, which no commercial plane even nearly crosses.
Yeah that's called Kármán line, but it's just arbitrary line. ISS is still orbiting within Earth's thermosphere
Yes, definitions are arbitrary but that is the definition of space.
One can be simultaneously on earth, and in space. In fact we all are
But I'm just arguing that while orbiting earth and being within the Earth's atmosphere, it's pretty much still on Earth. Just like you're still at home even if you're at the on the yard or even just outside the gate picking up mail from the mailbox. Looking at it from distance, it really doesn't make difference
I'm also orbiting the sun, ergo, I am a planet
It's not like citizenship you don't get to be a planet just because your mom is.
Look, I won't go down without a fight like pluto did
Pussy ass Pluto.
Pluto, is a planet!
But you are also spinning around (with) the earth, so wouldn't that make you a moon?
Momma always told me to 'aim for a planet, even if you miss you'll still be a moon'
M-O-O-N, that's how you spell Tom Cullen.
Plus you've got nippes so you can be milked.
You're part of a planet for sure :)
Look at Mr "hasn't cleared his orbit" over here getting all up in Plutos face. Neptune is being real quiet right now.
What does "ISS" stand for again? I forgot.
Imperial Starship. Wait, wrong comm.
Islamic State of Syria
International Space Station
The Karman Line's lowest theoretical point is still substantially higher up than commercial airplanes and its highest is substantially lower than the ISS. Most nations agree on it as the boundary for the purposes of law and regulation. Commercial airplanes fly about half as high as the line, while spacecraft orbit at four times its altitude or more.
It may be scientifically arbitrary, but it's got a lot going for it as a rough approximation.
My favorite fact is that earth's atmosphere extends 95,000 miles / 150,000 km beyond the moon.
I couldn't find any source for that, but exosphere is considered to extend to 10,000km or 190,000km, from which the latter is about halfway to the moon.
Anyways those numbers are pretty damn tiny even on a small solar system scale
Anyways, even if you look from very close, from our own moon to the earth, anything on the low earth orbit is so extremely close to the planet. Just look at some of the famous earthrise photos, and think of something orbiting ~8% of the radius distance
Thank you for the accents
Hérë, håvē ßòmê mõrè.
But a plane is not "on earth"?
Extremely pedantically, sure. But under that level of pedantry, the whole metric falls apart anyway because there's surely never or rarely been a point in recorded human history where someone hasn't jumped/fallen/not been physically touching the ground themselves (let alone this having been measurable). What about "touching"; your feet are just repelling the ground via electromagnetism.
It's really obvious what the metric is, and trying to pedant-proof it isn't worth bloating it into a mouthful. We can just recognize what it obviously means, say "oh, neat", and move on with our day.
Does it really count as being “on earth” if you’re standing on a floor instead of having your feet directly touch the dirt?
The last time everybody was touching a solid object connected to the Earth by touching other solid objects is probably around 15,000 years ago, when humans crossed over into the Americas. Before then, it would probably occur regularly that nearly all humans are asleep and the handful that are awake happen to all be touching the ground.
I guess you could count the atmosphere as part of earth, then things over 100km are in little enough of the atmosphere that it's not really 'touching' it the same way. (For example not generating significant lift)
You could also count earth's gravitational field, then nobody ever left it.
The people on the plane are supported by the Earth's air, the people in orbit are falling and are unsupported
People on low earth orbit are still affected my the drag of atmosphere, just a lot thinner than on a plane. And the plane is also falling, but it's being constantly pushed forward by the engines
The word I used was "supported by" the ISS does not have wings and does not have a buoyancy system, they are falling
The plane is riding on wings you can tell it is not falling because you feel your full weight when riding one