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Supersonic Skydiving
Almost six years ago, we talked about the story of Michel Fournier, a retired French army officer who planned to skydive from a height of 25 miles. That plan and a subsequent attempt one year later both failed due to "technical and weather-related problems." Now, at the age of 64, Fournier is set to try again. If everything goes right, his speed will approach 1,000 miles per hour during the early stages of his 15-minute descent. Quoting the NYTimes:
"Fournier faces plenty of perils. Above 40,000 feet, there is not enough oxygen to breathe in the frigid air. He could experience a fatal embolism. And 12 miles up, should his protective systems fail, his blood could begin to boil because of the air pressure, said Henri Marotte, a professor of physiology at the University of Paris and a member of Fournier's team. 'If the human body were exposed at very high altitude, the loss of consciousness is very fast, in five seconds,' Marotte said. 'Brain damage, in three or four minutes.'"
Like that brian regan routine about evil kinevil...
... Hmm .. y'know, I was thinkin' 'Did I leave the bathroom light on?' ... no wait, it was 'Did I turn the iron off... ' No wait! I remember now, I was thinking more like 'AHHHHHHHHH THE PAIN! OH MY ... OWWWWW AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OH NO NOT MY .... AHHHHHHH!'
Reporter: So, what did you think as you took that fall and broke every bone in your body?
Evil:
I for one think that it is an interesting idea if they can reliably pull it off.
Something like this will never be reliably pulled off. The challenges in reaching that altitude are immense, the skydive itself very dangerous, and the costs prohibitive. Many people have been trying to break Joseph Kittinger's 102,800 jump since he did it, and nobody has succeeded. That was in 1960. Everybody who's tried has either died, or postponed their plans due to danger.
Now we know why NASA and the US aren't bothering with a replacement for the Shuttle - they'll just have returning astronauts skydive back to earth!
Three Squirrels
Been there, Done that.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
"I can't think of a bigger stunt, other than perhaps trying to re-enter the earth's atmosphere with just your body, and I think we're a long way away from that."
It sounds pretty feasible to me. Assuming the jump is from above the atmosphere but not from orbit, the re-entry heating is fairly small (SpaceShipOne had little to no heat-shielding). Given a spacesuit and some sort of partially-rigid insulating blanket (like the old 'astronaut's inflatable lifeboat' idea), it's probably only a matter of time until someone jumps out of a suborbital craft.
When I get older losing my hair,
Many years from now.
Will you still be sending me a valentine,
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine.
If I'd been setting several new records by skydiving from the edge of space, breaking the sound barrier for the first time in history and risking death in several interesting and horrible ways
Would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Cool, but I don't give the guy much of a chance of survival.
I'm still curious as to whether this was doable or not. It would still take at least 4500 meters of free fall to go to Mach one... And letting go of the handles must be a bitch of a slap in the face!
Non-Linux Penguins ?
In supersonic skydiving, nobody can hear you scream.