how far away is space

Space starts much closer than most people think: by common definition, “space” begins about 100 km (62 miles) above Earth, at the Kármán line, though some agencies and scientists use about 80 km (50 miles) instead.

So…how far away is space?

If you could drive straight up on a highway at normal car speeds, you’d reach the edge of space in under an hour.

That edge is usually taken as:

• 100 km (62 miles) above sea level → the Kármán line, widely used in international and educational contexts.

• 80 km (50 miles) → used by the U.S. for awarding astronaut wings and argued by some researchers as a more physically meaningful boundary.

Either way, space is much closer than the Moon, satellites in high orbits, or other planets.

Why that height? (Simple version)

The “edge of space” is defined by physics and practicality, not a hard wall.

• As you go up, air gets thinner gradually; there’s no sharp cutoff, just fewer and fewer particles.
• Around 80–100 km up, air is so thin that normal aircraft wings can’t generate lift; above this, you need to fly like a spacecraft, not a plane.

• This makes 80–100 km a useful legal and engineering boundary for saying “you’re in space now.”

A nice mental image: Earth’s radius is about 6,371 km, so 100 km is just a thin “skin of atmosphere” compared to the planet’s size.

But doesn’t the atmosphere go much higher?

Yes—our atmosphere fades out gradually and stretches way beyond the Kármán line.

• The exosphere (the outermost layer) starts around a few hundred kilometers up and extends tens of thousands of kilometers into space.

• Its outer detectable limit is around half the distance to the Moon, but the gas there is so thin that it’s essentially vacuum for most purposes.

So: legally and practically, “space” starts around 80–100 km, but physically, Earth’s very tenuous atmosphere reaches incredibly far.

Where are the ISS and other “space things”?

To give that 100 km a bit of context:

• Kármán line (edge of space): ~100 km (62 miles).

• Typical low Earth orbit (LEO): a few hundred kilometers up.
• International Space Station (ISS): about 400 km (250 miles) altitude.

• Hubble Space Telescope: about 550 km (340 miles) altitude.

• The Moon: about 384,400 km (238,855 miles) away—vastly farther than the “edge of space.”

So crossing into space is the first small step; getting to orbit, the Moon, or beyond is the really big leap.

Quick FAQ style recap

• Q: How far away is space?
  A: Roughly 80–100 km (50–62 miles) above Earth’s surface.

• Q: Why different numbers?
  A: Different organizations pick slightly different practical thresholds (80 km vs 100 km), but both are in the same ballpark.

• Q: Is space really “just” 62 miles away?
  A: Yes—vertically it’s close, but it takes huge energy to climb against gravity and reach orbital speed, which is why going to space is still hard.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.