Posted on 10/02/2012 4:08:00 PM PDT by EveningStar
An Austrian daredevil plans to leap from nearly 23 miles above the Earth on Oct. 8 in a supersonic plunge that, if successful, will be the world's highest-ever skydive.
If all goes according to plan, a helium-filled balloon will lift off from Roswell, N.M., on Oct. 8 and carry Felix Baumgartner's custom-built capsule to an altitude of 120,000 feet (36,576 meters). The daredevil will then step out of the capsule into the void, breaking a skydiving record that has stood for 52 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
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what was the previous sky diving record
Go Felix!!
‘Felix’ means ‘good luck’ in Latin, something he’s going to need.
Joe Kittinger
If you can find it, read his book, "The Long Lonely Leap"
This could go very very wrong
The current record for world's highest skydive stands at 102,800 feet (31,333 m). It was set in 1960 by U.S. Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger, who serves as an adviser for Baumgartner's mission.
Supersonic? I don’t think so.
Hold muh beer an’ watch this ping.
His rate of fall will be supersonic (about 640 mph at altitude) but the wind force on his body will never go over probably 130 mph or so (whatever normal freefall terminal velocity is for his body size and mass.) The air is very thin at altitude.
Heck, he probably won’t even hear an airstream going past his helmet until he hits 70K or so.
Read Kittinger’s book. he hit like Mach .95 (some say he did Mach 1). He describes the whole event of his jump in 1960. It’ll make your hair stand up.
Yea, very wrong.
Not a chance of that happening.
Depressurization on the ride up or down is the biggest threat.
This guy needs to meet my daughter.
"I've flown all over the world....at one time I would've enjoyed a ride in the shuttle,..then one morning I woke up and decided flying was no longer going to be for me. It's not the aircraft, it's the people I don't trust anymore"
I don’t do things like this.
I don’t even think about doing things like this.
I rarely even think about things like this at all.
I don’t think I know anyone who thinks about thinking about things like this.
I liked Dirty Harry Callahan when he said “A man’s got to know his limitations.”
Neither do I. That's why I read FR. To see how crazy people are thinking.
5.56mm
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