理查德·布兰森没有去太空？Richard Branson Didn't Go To Space？

He did, however, go very high in the sky in a rocket plane.然而，他确实乘坐火箭飞机在天空中飞得很高。

The billionaire Richard Branson went 53.5 miles into the sky on Sunday, short of the Kármán line, which is 62 miles above sea level and where it is generally agreed that space begins. Branson did surpass 50 miles above sea level, above which NASA gives out astronaut wings. But come on, man, Branson’s stunt only barely cleared that.周日，亿万富翁理查德·布兰森升空了 53.5 英里，距离海拔 62 英里的卡门线还差53.5 英里，人们普遍认为，这里是太空开始的地方。 布兰森确实超过了海平面以上 50 英里，美国宇航局在此之上伸出了宇航员的翅膀。 但是来吧，伙计，布兰森的特技只是勉强澄清了这一点。

There is, officially, no American government definition for when space begins, apparently in large part because the government does not want to define it, because it could possibly change with technological developments. But let’s accept the 50 mile rule for argument’s sake, anyway, and say that Branson was indeed in space, where he spent about a minute-and-a-half before falling back to earth, which is the functional equivalent of having a layover at JFK and then claiming you’ve been to New York City. That might technically be true but simultaneously be complete hogwash.美国政府没有正式定义太空何时开始，这显然在很大程度上是因为政府不想定义它，因为它可能会随着技术的发展而改变。 但无论如何，为了争论，让我们接受 50 英里规则，并假设布兰森确实在太空中，他在返回地球之前花了大约一分半钟，这相当于在 肯尼迪然后声称你去过纽约市。 这在技术上可能是正确的，但同时也是完全的废话。

Instead, I hereby propose a simple, achievable definition of “going to space,” which is that you must orbit the Earth at least once while you’re up there, something that Branson did not do. And, while Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom might be a little mad that their first flights will no longer count, in Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom’s day there weren’t weirdo billionaires engaged in pointless space races.相反，我在此提出了一个简单的、可实现的“上太空”定义，即当你在那里时，你必须至少绕地球一周，这是布兰森没有做的。 而且，虽然艾伦·谢泼德和格斯·格里森姆可能对他们的第一次飞行不再计数感到有点生气，但在艾伦·谢泼德和格斯·格里森姆的时代，并没有参与毫无意义的太空竞赛的怪人亿万富翁。

Also, crucially, the U.S. and the Soviet Union weren’t trying to sell anything beyond their own superiority, whereas Branson would be very pleased if you got in line and paid him a quarter-of-a-million dollars or more to take his dumb amusement park ride. The best thing you can say about Branson or anyone else that takes his spaceplane to suborbital skies is that they have the courage to strap themselves to a rocket, which isn’t nothing. But you can’t say they’ve gone to space, any more than I can say I’ve been to Des Moines, even though I drove through it once. It seemed nice.此外，至关重要的是，美国和苏联并没有试图出售超出其自身优势的任何东西，而如果你排队并付给他 25 万美元或更多的钱，布兰森会非常高兴带你进行这样愚蠢的类似游乐园骑行。关于布兰森或任何将他的太空飞机带到亚轨道天空的人，你能说的最好的事情是他们有勇气把自己绑在火箭上，这并没什么特别的。 但是，你不能说他们去过太空，就像我声称去过得梅因一样，即使我只是开车穿过它一次而已。这只是看起来不错。