This is silly. The reason given is scientific... to study the effects of supersonic flight on the human body. Right. Ever heard of a wind tunnel?This is a dare devil stunt, nothing more.
You are correct.
It doesn't need to be anything more. It's impressive as it is.
We already know pretty much everything he’ll “learn”.
It would be a lot more impressive if he were to jump from orbit and make a controlled descent at slower speeds.
To me it’s more about what you learn on the ground preparing for it. It takes a lot of brainstorming when the possibility of death is involved. That knowledge may translate down the road. Doing just confirms you got it right (hopefully).
Could be. So were Lindberg's flights, the moon landings etc. I'm reminded of some of the staff from JPL dissing man in space as a waste of money and not science. All that being said, who cares. There's plenty of reasons to do something besides science and sometimes in the process a little bit of science might also be revealed.