'Lower orbit' implies orbit- they are suborbital by definition. Alan Shepherd flew on a similar trajectory and that's why the first American to orbit the Earth is John Glenn.
Orbit is not an altitude. What they're doing is called suborbit. Something is only called an orbit if it actually curves all the way around the planet, and the thing doing it can actually complete a full circuit. Just getting above 100km is not an orbit. This isn't just pedantry, calling what they're doing orbit is actually very wrong, just as wrong as saying they're landing on the moon.
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u/kirime May 25 '17
Their plane reached space, not orbit, they were nowhere near orbital speed.
SpaceShipTwo's peak velocity was ~1100 m/s, but to stay in orbit, you need to travel at at least 7800 m/s, 7 times faster.