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I want to know what plane took that shot. I am sure it is either a touched photo or was done by a satellite.

I reminds me of the old movies where we thought the parachutist who did daring acts was the bravest man but never thought about the cameraman who did the same jump PLUS worried about getting the shot.

I want to know what plane took that shot. I am sure it is either a touched photo or was done by a satellite.

You know, I wondered about that too. If it is photoshopped, its a damn good job. THe person doing it could give "Registered" a run for his money.

Satellite was one thought, but what about a LEO manned spacecraft? You got the heat plume comming off the port engine, and light refraction spots on the lens.

IF, it's photoshopped; it's damn impressive.

I want to know what plane took that shot. I am sure it is either a touched photo or was done by a satellite.

I believe it's a touched-up photo, probably for a promotional brochure (either for the Air Force or Lockheed) - I've seen it several times on FR and elsewhere, and I vaguely remember a recruiting poster that had something similar.

The only aircraft close to that altitude was the X-15, and I think that was a bit high for an X-15 (which only went out to around 350,000 feet). I remember hearing somewhere that Neil Armstrong had an X-15 flight where things got a little wild and he nearly ended up going into the upper atmosphere (or low orbit if you prefer) after he should have started his descent. Later on they pushed it upto 350,000 feet (I think Armstrong's highest flight was in the 200,000 foot range, because he left for astronaut training before getting a chance go higher and faster). Seems like a big difference between 350,000 and higher, and 200,000 feet, but when you're doing 4000mph + you can cover that distance pretty quick.