Asema avaruuden rajalla

MSNBC - Airship groomed for flight to edge of space

In Powell's scheme, piloted Ascenders would sail up to a Dark Sky Station at an altitude of 100,000 to 140,000 feet (30 to 42 kilometers). "It supplies literally a space station, but not in space. It's parked at the edge of space, as a permanent manned facility," he explained.

Up in the air!

I went to some so-called airship experts and presented my idea to them. And pretty much, though they didn't laugh in my face, there was snickering. I was told that this couldn't be made: "You won't be able to control it", and "It's not steerable". I told them I had made some radio-controlled models and they worked very well. "Well, it won't work if you scale it," they told me. I kept arguing. Then came the killer: "If it is as good as you say, somebody else would have done it already." So I built the first prototype in 1991, and it flew very well.

[BlogThis! -kokeilu]