PARIS joins the 17-mile-high club

Aerial mission photos for your viewing pleasure

The Kodak Zx1 battled bravely on, however, and delivered this tremendous footage of the Vulture 1 drop at 89,591ft:

Here are five grabs of the drop, including two of the distant aircraft in an upright, going-forward-flying configuration; something bound to infuriate the armchair aerospace experts among the El Reg commentards, whose own space plane projects haven't got any further than the gobbing-off stage: