He's not really going to space though is he?
Yes, neither are orbital flights, but achieving orbit is not so much about distance from earth as it is about your tangential velocity.
Said another way: both flights will be entering the same "-sphere" as the ISS, the thermosphere. This is above the other spheres you typically hear about, like the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere.
Yes, one is only going 80km up, for all intents and purposes, that's space