Posted on 10/14/2012 11:53:51 AM PDT by drewh
Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner has jumped from a balloon 24 miles above Earth in a death-defying free fall that could make him the world's first supersonic skydiver.
After his parachute deployed he landed safely on the New Mexico desert about 10 minutes later.
He set records for the highest free-fall and the fastest free-fall ever.
Baumgartner climbed into the stratosphere in a pressurized capsule carried by a helium balloon Sunday and then jumped into a near vacuum at about 128,000 feet, or more than 24 miles, high.
Coincidentally, Baumgartner's attempted feat also marked the 65th anniversary of U.S. test pilot Chuck Yeager successful attempt to become the first man to officially break the sound barrier aboard an airplane.
At Baumgartner's insistence, some 30 cameras recorded the event. While it had been pegged as a live broadcast, it was actually under a 20-second delay.
Meteorologist: Supersonic skydive "a go" on Sunday Skydiver's supersonic jump on hold due to winds Felix Baumgartner set for jump from edge of space
Shortly after launch, screens at mission control showed the capsule as it rose above 10,000 feet, high above the New Mexico desert as cheers erupted from organizers. Baumgartner could be seen on video checking instruments inside the capsule.
Baumgartner's team included Joe Kittinger, the man who first attempted to break the sound barrier from 19.5 miles in 1960. With Kittinger inside mission control Sunday, the two men could be heard going over technical details as the launch began.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
In my 20s (ahem, some years back) I went parasailing while in Hawaii.... it was one of those times I thought, when am I ever coming back here, I HAVE to do this!!! It was sooo cool! Now... not sure I could do it again..?
I wish you luck on your decision. Totally agree with the envy of those who can do such things with such abandon! My adventure-loving, oldest daughter (only 11) says she can’t wait til she’s grown up and can go skydiving. **GULP** I tell her, okay, but don’t let me know til afterwards, LOL!
Oh I understand. :) You want them to have dreams and experience things that you haven't, but the worry is great. I know.
Rim shot! (good one!) ;)
made my first jump at 3000 feet and thought that was high
Has (1) Barry taken credit for it yet?
(2) Barry told him he didn’t do it by himself?
(3) Barry called Felix yet to get Barry some favorable press?
It is very hard to appreciate how tough that had to be. I can’t imagine trying to steer and stabilize from a foot first fall to a stable head first glide with so little air to provide any drag.
There's a small matter of killing 17,000 mph in orbital velocity. That's why he dropped from a balloon.
I watched the post jump interview live on YouTube. He addressed it there. There were huge dangers. You might find it on YouTube.
I watched it live on the Youtube livestream (along with about 8 million other people worldwide)...he went into a flat spin about 15-20 seconds after he jumped. He said in the press conference that he had a drogue chute onboard that he could’ve popped to stabilize his descent and snap him out of the spin but it would have ruined his chance of breaking the sound barrier, so he decided to try and get himself out of it. Somehow, he managed to stabilize himself before the spin got so bad that the G-force of it caused him to “red out” from all the blood getting slung into his head. Even he wasn’t sure what kind of spin/tumble he was in or how he got out of it because he said inside the suit, there was no real feeling for how he was tumbling.
His terminal velocity? 834 miles per hour. Mach 1.24. That’s over 200 mph faster than Kittinger in 1960. And Kittinger got to talk him through the entire thing and watch it happen, and he looked like a proud papa.
}:-)4
Kittinger looked pretty sharp for a guy that’s 84 and spent a year in the Hanoi Hilton.
You mean the fraidy cats?
bfl
I am reminded of 007 parachuting down from high altitude in TOMORROW NEVER DIES...
Hey, the only thing they fear is winning. But they did yesterday, so the roller coaster ride actually went somewhere for a change.
“...you start seeing signs for that exit around Alamogordo.”
Exit? Alamogordo?
If there is a road with actual exits near Alamogordo, it’s new since my time there (1994-2001). (I guess highway 70 going south might qualify).
You first :-)
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