# Inner Space **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2000, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inner-space/41874 "2000-11-19T20:28:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![flynnstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ebca7d/32.png) [@flynnstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flynnstone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inner-space/41874/1 "2000-11-19T20:28:54Z")
I know that there is outer space, so does this mean that there was originally something called inner space? ---
**Author:** ![Short](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Short](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inner-space/41874/2 "2000-11-19T21:08:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by flynnstone \* > \*\*I know that there is outer space, so does this mean that there was originally something called inner space? \*\* The only time I’ve heard the term inner space was by Carl Segan on a Nova special (I think). He was referring to the mind (i.e. aliens are not from outer space but from inner space. That is they are hallucinations). Can’t recall the title of the show, and perhaps Carl was just being clever. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inner-space/41874/3 "2000-11-19T21:12:08Z")
well, there **is** of course, the movie, starring Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan and Martin Short… ::runs and hides:: ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inner-space/41874/4 "2000-11-19T21:29:58Z")
My dictionary’s definition 1.a. of “space” is “a set of elements or points satisfying specified geometric postulates: _non-Euclidean space_.” Its definition 1.b. is “the intuitive three-dimensional field of everyday experience.” It’s only when you get to 1.c. that we get “the expanse in which the the solar system, stars, and galaxies exist; the universe.”; in other words, “outer” space, as distinguished from what’s between some people’s ears–or more seriously, the continuum we all exist within. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inner-space/41874/5 "2000-11-19T21:33:23Z")
Oops…actually, definition 1.c. is “the infinite extension of the three-dimensional field”; it’s only when we get to definition _2_ that we get to the Final Frontier. (It goes on for several more definitions, from parking spaces to the intervals between the lines of a musical staff to “one of the intervals during the telegraphic transmission of a message when the key is open or not in contact”, which is definition 9. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inner-space/41874/6 "2000-11-19T21:37:14Z")
) close that last parenthesis and… > [@](#): > > **outer space** Any region of space beyond limits determined with reference to the boundaries of a celestial body or system. Not in technical use. These are all from the _American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language_, by the way. [sub]Padding my post count? Who, me?[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inner-space/41874/7 "2000-11-19T23:31:01Z")
The [Air Force Association’s Space Terms page](http://www.afa.org/magazine/space/space_terms.html) has these definitions: Inner Space = Circumterrestrial space = 60 miles to 50,000 miles from the Earth. This is about the same range as low-earth orbit, medium-earth orbit, and high-earth orbit combined. Outer Space = 50,000 miles to 480,000 miles. 480,000 miles is roughly twice the distance to the moon. Deep Space = the space farther from the earth than 480,000 miles ---
**Author:** ![quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quasar)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inner-space/41874/8 "2000-11-19T23:33:52Z")
In the spirit of idle speculation, most of an atom’s volume is empty space. How ’bout calling it inner space? And yes, the Innerspace movie was great, one of my favorites as a kid.