According to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), space begins at 100 Kilometers (62 miles) but what would be the lowest possible orbit?
Soviet Zenit spy satellites launched from Plesetsk had a perigee of 150 km and were recovered after 14 days...
US Keyhole photo-reconnaisance satellites equiped with Agena's restartable engine could maintain perigees as low as 135 km for 50 days!
Following circular orbit theory, a satellite must be travelling about 7.7 km/sec, this equals an orbital height of about 200 Kilometers.
Once a satellite is down to about 110 kilometers circular orbit it will usually impact into dense atmosphere within the next revolution.
Break-up occurs at about 80 kilometers...
What was the lowest "usable" orbit ?