Talk:Ballistic missile

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)

I get perigee and pedigree mixed up, dog gone it! --Ed Poor ^Talk 23:25, 3 January 2010 (EST)