Skydiver To Break Sound Barrier During Free-Fall

Hugh Pickens writes "Over fifty years ago, American Joe Kittinger made history by leaping from a balloon at 102,800 ft, and although many have sought to repeat the feat, all have failed. Now, BBC reports that Austrian extreme sportsman Felix Baumgartner will try to break the long-standing record for the highest ever parachute jump, skydiving from a balloon sent to at least 120,000 ft, and it is likely that 35 seconds into in his long free-fall of more than five minutes, he will exceed the speed of sound — the first person to do so without the aid of a machine. 'No-one really knows what that will be like,' says Baumgartner. Although challenges in the endeavor include coping with freezing temperatures and ultra-thin air, a key objective for Baumgartner will be to try to maintain a good attitude during the descent and prevent his body from going into a spin and blacking out. 'The fact is you have a lot of different airflows coming around your body; and some parts of your body are in supersonic flow and some parts are in transonic flow. What kind of reaction that creates, I can't tell you,' adds Baumgartner."

Comments

Anyone else think..

[pnewhook]

So I guess I'm not the only one to think this guy is going to die doing this stunt.

Darwin Award Candidate

[sweetser]

Just like car racing, I want to watch.

Re:Star Trek

[tverbeek]

Superman throwing that island into space then falling for me.

That bit about Superman falling for you? That was a dream. :)

Failed how?

[Greger47]

American Joe Kittinger made history by leaping from a balloon at 102,800 ft, and although many have sought to repeat the feat, all have failed.

Failed?!? How can you fail that? Throw yourself self off the balloon and miss the ground?

/greger

Re:Failed how?

[sick_soul]

Missing the ground is fundamental in learning how to fly

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=flying

See 3.

Re:Failed how?

[FilePeter]

A Frenchman called Michel Fournier spent years preparing to beat the record, only to watch his balloon detach from the capsule and float away without him. I believe the term is EPIC FAIL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Fournier_(adventurer)

Re:Failed how?

[Mitchell314]

They're all still in orbit.

Re:I'll bet

[kojimoto_atusis]

It's really going to hurt.

I'm just going to say... Best Darwin award EVER!

The real question is ...

[tomhudson]

... will he bounce?

Re:Star Trek

[itsme1234]

For one thing we can pretend we're in an alternate timeline where the one from last year never happened.

Re:no sound = no sound barrier

[dziban303]

If my calculations are correct, it's 623 ergs/quartic coloumb-acre.

Re:A simple machine

[Sir_Lewk]

You must be a big hit at the parties.

Supplemental question

[bobdotorg]

If you fart while exceeding the speed of sound, will it make a noise?

Re:Supplemental question

[Anonymous Coward]

No, but it will (temporarily) give you a speedboost. It acts just like an afterburner, really.

Nominee

[Anonymous Coward]

I think this has to be considered as a Darwin Awards nominee...

Re:Star Trek

[colinrichardday]

<response voice="Picard">But I see 11 Star Trek films!</response>

Red Shirt

[Das Auge]

I hope to god he's not wearing a red shirt.

Re:Star Trek

[anagama]

Because ST11 sucked so hard it is equivalent to -2 Star Treks.

golfer

[mordorph]

The Difference between a bad golfer and a bad skydiver? one goes *Whack*... "D@mn". the other goes "D@mn"...Whack.

Re:golfer

[dangitman]

Nobody says "damn" in those situations. They say "fuck" or "shit" or "fucking cunt."

Re:Star Trek

[beelsebob]

I prefer to say there's only been one Star Trek film, and exist in an alternate timeline where the one from last year is the *only* one that ever happened.

Re:no sound = no sound barrier

[K. S. Kyosuke]

"There is an abrupt drag rise right around Mach 1, so there's a significant chance he could stabilize at, say, Mach 0.98 and be unable to accelerate further."

He will need a very pointy hat.

Re:no sound = no sound barrier

[zoloto]

You never do until they leave. :(

Re:I'll bet

[PDX]

Sheared off at 750mph. Blood loss followed by blackout. If "he" survives he won't get many dates. Just date Lorena Bobbit next time. Same result no balloons.

Re:no sound = no sound barrier

[shabtai87]

Jeez, has no one ever heard of a back of an envelope calculation? Here, let me blow your mind: Pi = 3

Re:Star Trek

[CTachyon]

Actually, I'm fairly sure you miscounted. When I looked over that list, I only counted 8.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Star Trek 1)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Star Trek 2)
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Star Trek 3)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Star Trek 4)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier FNORD (Star Trek 5)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Star Trek 6)
Star Trek: Generations (Star Trek 7)
Star Trek: First Contact (Star Trek 8)
Star Trek: Insurrection FNORD (Star Trek 9)
Star Trek: Nemesis FNORD (Star Trek 10)
Star Trek (2009 - Star Trek 11)

See? There's a mysterious gap between 4 and 6 that I've never been able to figure out, but you can't seriously mean that the new movie gets a +2 added to its sequel number just because it's a reboot.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a sudden urge to go shopping.