Talk:Ballistic missile
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by JacobB (talk | contribs) at 04:23, January 4, 2010. It may differ significantly from current revision.
Orbit and atmosphere
If you want to be precise: Even a thrown stone briefly orbits the Earth. ;) I would change the opening part to "missile which briefly goes into an exoatmospheric orbit" so you have a qualifier for the overly broad term "orbit". --Jenkins 17:09, 20 September 2007 (EDT)
- That's a good point. Ballistic missiles, in modern usage, simply refers to missiles which leave the atmosphere. None complete a full orbit, and in this sense they are not different from an ordinary missile. It's the perigee of their trajectory which seperates them. "orbits the Earth" is a bad term to use. JacobB 23:23, 3 January 2010 (EST)