It was only a matter of time before Neil deGrasse Tyson and Scott Kelly, both known for their love of a good online flame war, locked up in a debate.
Was it the catalyst for this new rivalry? The "Top Gun" franchise has a new installation called "Top Gun: Maverick". Tyson had a serious issue with the physics of one scene in particular, when he finally got to see it.
In this year's Top Gun movie, Tom Cruise's character ejected from a hypersonic plane before it crashed. There were no injuries for him. His body would like to swat a worm. Just say it.
Kelly, the energetic equivalent of a retired NASA worker, disagreed.
"Depends on his altitude, I was going Mach 25 when I went on a spacewalk and that was fine," he said.
The NASA retiree took the time to clarify that the comparison was not a perfect one.
He said that he wanted to be clear. At the altitude at which a Mach 10 hypersonic aircraft would be flying, the ejection would be very survivable, the reentry into the atmosphere in just a pressure suit, not so much.
Kelly's issue with the scene was less about the air speed and more about Cruise's character. He said that was the determining factor for survivability.
Tyson's claim that hypersonic aircrafts have sophisticated ejection seats to protect pilots from high-mach ejections was disputed by other users.
"We didn't see the ejection onscreen," wrote one netizen. "Maybe the hypersonic plane had a protective capsule for the pilot like the XB-70 used."Tyson hasn't responded. No one would want to be thrown out of a hypersonic aircraft. We're certain that both Tyson and Kelly have thoughts about Tommy Boy's upcoming spacewalk.
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