"Around the world in 60 minutes"

> Reminds me of a proposal several years ago for a high altitude
> 'superorbital' hypersonic transport. It went faster than orbital
> velocity, and generated lift downward to keep it from going into orbit
> :-)

Around the world in 60 minutes.

I'd call it a contest, not a hypersonic transports. Only a insane person 
would what to pay the extra freight required to get the cargo there a few 
minutes earlier.

But, as a contest, it's the last reasonable "Around the World" record to be 
broken at some time in the future. It's also a reasonable contest as the 
vehicle that can do it, will have many of the attributes of the vehicles 
that will be used to go to orbit in the future.

Of course, you could go faster, but now you talking about more than one gee 
on the passengers and eventually you'll squash the passengers. So, humans 
having grown up in a one gee environment, it makes for a nice break point 
for the last "Around the World in ??????" record.

:-)

Craig Fink