Complex sentence: The projectile reached so high that it was the first man-made object to reach the altitude of the stratosphere, thus virtually eliminating drag from air resistance, allowing the shell to achieve a range of over 130 kilometres (80 miles).
Split into simpler sentences: The projectile reached so high that it was the first man-made object to reach the altitude of the stratosphere. This virtually eliminated drag from air resistance, allowing the shell to achieve a range of over 130 kilometres (80 miles).