Actually, using a standad 9.5 inch basketball the distance would only be slightly more than 1/4 inch. That assumes a space station height of 230 miles. From: Daniel Holmes <danielh@holmesonics.com> To: Utah-astronomy Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 9:55 AM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Today's XKCD. http://xkcd.com/1074/ I found the alt-text interesting...if the earth was the size of a basketball, no human in 40 years has been more than a half inch from the surface. Puts the orbit of the space shuttle and ISS into perspective. Dan -- Daniel Holmes, danielh@holmesonics.com "Laugh while you can, monkey boy!" -- Lord John Whorfin _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".