Talk:NASA Pathfinder

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On 13 August 2001, it set an altitude record for a propeller-driven aircraft, reaching at 96,863 feet (29,511 m), the Earth's atomsphere at that altitude is similar to the atmosphere to Mars,

... similar to the atmophere to Mars at which altitude? --Abdull 11:04, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

lol isn't it obvious? The altitude that is mentioned in the sentence! Gfad1 13:41, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

No, the altitude at Mars. Obviously Mars' atmospheric pressure also decreases with increasing altitude. RockAteer 15:19, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Renaming explanation

I've renamed the article so that it can incorporate all 3 aircraft in the program. Since Helios was lost and Pathfinder-Plus was just inducted into NASM, it is the logical choice for an article title. Will expand the article over the next couple of days. Akradecki 16:05, 17 March 2007 (UTC)♠

[edit] Record claim bogus

> On 13 August, 2001, it set an unofficial world record for sustained altitude by a winged aircraft <

Which is not true. The official FAI world record is held by soviet test pilot Alexey Fedotov flying the E-266, a specially modified MiG-25 Foxbat fighter jet and high-speed reconnaisance airplane. His record of 37,650 meters (123.520 ft) still stands, but commander Fedotov later died in a MiG-31 prototype crash.

[The american SR-71 cannot do more than 24-26km (85.300 ft) altitude because the fuselage would suffer aerodynamic pitch-up and disintegrate while descending. FAI regulations require that the record plane land in one piece and the pilot(s) walk away from it. Whether the engines inside are permanently ruined, as has beeen the case in some russian records is not relevant according to the rules). 82.131.210.162 (talk) 10:02, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

You're richt, I've changed the wording and replaced the newspaper reference with one to FAI. - Dammit (talk) 11:53, 23 April 2008 (UTC)