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Skydiver Leaps From 18 Miles Up In 'Space Jump' Practice

Posted by samzenpus on from the watch-the-first-step dept.

wooferhound writes "A daredevil leapt from a balloon more than 18 miles above the Earth today, moving one step closer to a so-called 'space jump' that would set the record for the world's highest skydive. Austrian adventurer Felix Baumgartner stepped out of his custom-built capsule at an altitude of 96,640 feet (29,456 meters) above southeastern New Mexico, officials with Red Bull Stratos — the name of Baumgartner's mission — announced today. In today's jump, Baumgartner experienced freefall for three minutes and 48 seconds, reaching a top speed of 536 mph (863 kph), project officials said. Baumgartner then opened his parachute and glided to Earth safely about 10 minutes and 30 seconds after stepping into the void."

4 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. Pretty Cool by jomama717 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Makes me wish I'd been alive to watch live coverage of people LANDING ON THE FREAKING MOON.

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    while [ 1 ]; do echo -n -e "\xe2\x95\xb$((($RANDOM&1)+1))"; done
    1. Re:Pretty Cool by camperdave · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If NASA took all the trouble to fake the moon landing, then why haven't they, in the past 40 years, faked another milestone, like landing on Mars?

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      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  2. Re:air resistance by aapold · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Kittinger's story is amazing. He used to call into a florida talk show I listened to when I lived there from time to time to talk about some of the stuff involved with his jump. He is consulting on this attempt, so while this attempt might seem a stunt, at least Kittinger is apparently getting paid for it.

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    "Waste not one watt!" - CZ
  3. Re:New Extreme Sport by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wonder how much you could charge people for "space jumps"?

    I'm not sure what the price level would be, but I can tell you that I have pretty much no interest in jumping out of an airplane, but I would do it multiple times if it were required to train for this kind of jump.

    I'm pretty sure I could be 117, dying on a bed and, remembering my space jump, say, "fuck yeah" and die happy.

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