Joe says space starts at 50 miles up. The Karman Line at 100 km, or 62 miles, up is the internationally recognized start of outer space. As you go higher the air gets thinner. As the air gets thinner an airplane has to go faster to get enough lift from its wings. When you get high enough the speed needed for an airplane to get lift is equal to that height's orbital velocity. That is the Karman Line, above which wings are useless.
In the Veridian Dynamics teamwork ad the five small, black-furred carnivors are Tasmanian Devils. These marsupials are endangered from Devil Facial Tumor Disease, one of four known infectious (non-oncovirus) cancers.