ZeLL, or Zero-Length Launch, was a Cold War concept that fitted the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter with a large rocket booster so it could be launched straight off a ramp, without any runway. The aim was to keep fighters operational even if airfields were bombed.

The F-104 Starfighter earned the nickname "missile with a man in it" because of its extremely thin, stubby wings and rocket-like fuselage built for blistering speed. It prioritised raw performance over manoeuvrability, looking more like a guided missile than a conventional fighter.

A zero-length-launch aircraft sat on a short ramp with a booster rocket attached beneath it. The rocket fired to fling the jet into the air in seconds; once airborne and fast enough, the booster was jettisoned and the aircraft flew normally on its own jet engine.

During the Cold War, conventional airfields were obvious first-strike targets that could be cratered in minutes. Launching Cold War interceptors from ramps promised a way to get fighters airborne even after an enemy attack destroyed the runways.

Although tests with the F-104 and other jets proved the concept worked, zero-length launch never entered regular service. The complexity, cost and risk outweighed the benefits, and air forces instead hardened airfields and dispersed aircraft to protect them.

The F-104 served many air forces as an interceptor and strike fighter from the late 1950s, prized for its speed and climb. Its safety record in some countries was troubled, but it remains an icon of the jet age, admired among the most distinctive aircraft ever built.

Becoming an astronaut typically requires strong academic and technical credentials, excellent physical fitness, and rigorous selection and training — including survival training, underwater (neutral-buoyancy) practice for spacewalks, and high G-force tolerance. British ESA astronaut Tim Peake, a former helicopter test pilot, trained for his ISS mission at Star City near Moscow.

Major training takes place at facilities like Star City near Moscow, where Russian cosmonauts and visiting astronauts such as Tim Peake prepare. Training covers G-force exposure in a centrifuge, survival drills, and underwater simulation of spacewalks. Several of these experiences, including centrifuge and weightlessness flights, can also be booked by civilians.

G-force training conditions the body to withstand the acceleration of launch and re-entry. Astronauts and fighter pilots ride a centrifuge to experience high G-loads — Tim Peake was filmed enduring 8G. High G strains the cardiovascular system and can cause loss of consciousness. Learn what it does to the body in what pulling 9G does to your body.

Astronaut training is broad: survival training for unplanned landings in remote terrain or water, underwater neutral-buoyancy work to rehearse spacewalks, centrifuge G-force exposure, and extensive technical and systems study. Tim Peake’s path through these stages shows how much preparation precedes a mission to the International Space Station.

The edge of space is commonly placed at the Kármán line, about 100 km (62 miles) up, where the atmosphere is too thin for aerodynamic flight. Joe Kittinger famously jumped from the stratosphere in 1960, recounted in the man who jumped from the edge of space. A high-altitude MiG-29 flight comes closest to that view for civilians.

External cameras are typically fixed to the airframe — for example under the wings or on the fin — using strong tape and sometimes vacuum mounts. It is tricky: at high speed the airflow can loosen the tape, making footage shaky. MiGFlug has mounted cameras this way for BBC and German TV productions, reaching around 750 km/h.

The Edge of Space flight carries a passenger in a MiG-29 to the upper stratosphere, where the sky turns dark and the curvature of the Earth becomes visible. The jet can reach Mach 2 — about 2,450 km/h. You can learn how to rent a MiG-29 for this experience.

On the Edge of Space flight the MiG-29 can reach Mach 2 — roughly 2,450 km/h, or 1,520 mph — about twice the speed of sound. That is far faster than the roughly 750 km/h reached during earlier external-camera video shoots, and fast enough to climb toward the stratosphere where Earth's curvature is visible.

The Edge of Space flight has a flight duration of about 45 to 50 minutes — longer than the roughly 20-minute sorties used in some earlier video productions. The longer profile gives time to climb high into the stratosphere and reach top speed. The different MiG-29 versions used are compared elsewhere on the blog.

Josh Cartu is a race-car driver and well-known personality who featured as the customer in MiGFlug's Edge of Space video. His public profile and large fan base helped promote the film. He flew the MiG-29 to the edge of space as part of the six-month production led by aviation videographer Artur Sarkysian.

The video was produced by Artur Sarkysian, a noted Russian aviation video producer. As a Russian citizen he could access the restricted military airbase where the flights take place. The project took about six months of planning, testing and filming with several MiGFlug customers before the final cut, which starred race driver Josh Cartu.

MiGFlug's favourite fighter-jet films are Les Chevaliers du Ciel, Top Gun, the documentary Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag, and Iron Eagle. Each is praised for its dogfights and flying footage, with the top picks using real aircraft rather than computer graphics.

Top Gun centres on the F-14 Tomcat, the US Navy's swing-wing carrier fighter. The film made the Tomcat a pop-culture icon, and many fans still ask whether you can fly an F-14 Tomcat today.

The French film Les Chevaliers du Ciel features the Dassault Mirage 2000. Its aerial sequences were shot entirely with real aircraft and no CGI, using a specially built camera carried in a fuel pod on a chase Mirage 2000 fast enough to keep pace with the "star" jets.

Iron Eagle features the F-16 Fighting Falcon as its hero jet, though many flight scenes used remote-controlled scale models. The "enemy" fighters in the film are not MiGs at all but Israel Aircraft Industries F-21 Kfirs, which are modified French Mirage 5s.

Yes. The original Top Gun is famous for sending interest in naval aviation soaring, as detailed in our look at how Top Gun doubled Navy recruitment overnight. Few films have had such a direct effect on a military service.

Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag is praised as highly accurate technically. It follows the US Air Force's Red Flag exercise, features the F-15 as its main aircraft, and includes striking footage inside an AWACS, making it a favourite among aviation enthusiasts.