Question: How close to outer space does an ordinary passenger jet come?
Answer: Outer space begins at the Karman line, about 62 miles high, where the Earth’s atmosphere ends. The typical passenger jetliner hits cruising altitude at about 33,000 feet, or about six miles high. So a passenger airliner is only about 1/10 of the way to space. The record for highest-altitude flight of any aircraft not equipped with rockets belongs to a Soviet MiG E-266M that soared to 123,523 feet above sea level – roughly 24 miles high, and still far short of space.
