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NASA's Flying Wing Breaks 2 Records

Posted by Hemos on from the still-going-still-going dept.

ELBnet writes "CNN reports in this story that NASA's Helios flying wing broke the altitude records for both a propeller and jet aircraft with an altitude of 85,100 feet... and they were still climbing shooting for 100,000."

5 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. It has been done. by DiveX · · Score: 3, Informative

    Joe Kittinger made the highest intentional skydive in history when in 1960 he jumped out of a balloon at 103,000 ft., and is the only person to have broken the sound barrier with his body alone.

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    Cave, wreck, and deep diver.
  2. Some more info by Caid+Raspa · · Score: 3, Informative
    can be found on the Helios website

  3. Re:How does it maintain position? by coreman · · Score: 4, Informative

    The 20mph was at much lower levels while taking off. At the maximum levels it was flying much faster in order to have enough air moving over the wings to produce lift (you need lift enough to offset the weight) The peak speed listed is 170mph for this flight. It couldn't do that at sealevel, even in a straight dive due to the drag.

  4. Helios footage by roguerez · · Score: 3, Informative
    On the Nasa site there are some movies of the Helios.

    For the paranoid:

    http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/movie/Helios/inde x.html

  5. The latest by quintessent · · Score: 4, Informative

    As of 4:11 in Hawaii, helios was up to 96,500 feet!

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    Donate background CPU time to fight cancer.