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Austrian Skydiver Prepared to Leap From Edge of Space
Cutting_Crew writes "Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner will attempt a supersonic free fall on October 8th as the worlds highest skydive. According to the Christian Science Monitor 'The current record for world's highest skydive stands at 102,800 feet (31,333 m). It was set in 1960 by U.S. Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger, who serves as an adviser for Baumgartner's mission. If Baumgartner succeeds on Oct. 8, he will break not only that mark but also the sound barrier, becoming the first skydiver ever to fall at supersonic speeds, Red Bull Stratos officials said. During the July 25 jump, Baumgartner's top freefall speed was 537 mph (864 kph) — about as fast as a commercial airliner.' Let's hope that the weather on the 8th is as good as they hope for. It would be awesome to have a real time camera feed from his helmet."
That's one record that's sure to fall!
Be relentless!
I see a bright future for this man.
- I stole your sig.
If this attempt is successful Austria will reveal the other part of their space program:
a vertical tunnel down the Grossglockner mountain with a bottle of propane at the bottom.
You went to the Christian Science Monitor to get the information on the current altitude record? You're going to get your statistics from the people who think dinosaurs and humans coexisted? Good luck with that.
I don't think you know what Christian Science is.
Undo mod
"A mind reader? That sounds like sci fi." "Honey, we live on a space ship"
One of my favorite music videos, Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy, starts out with footage from Kittinger's 1960 jump:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrBZeWjGjl8
Good luck with that, Red Bull haven't released any of the footage for the warm up jumps other than a few teasers, let alone streaming/televising a dangerous stunt (for want of a better word) live.
If anything went wrong their corporate image would take a big knock so I assume they'll wait until they know it's a success before announcing it and then they'll probably see how they can best 'monetize' the footage.
The air will be so thin when he's at that speed that the shock-wave will be negligible if not non-existant.
The CSM has only financial links to Christian Science, and generally has better science journalism than the mainstream media. That isn't a particularly high bar to clear, but don't let the name put you off.
0xDEADBEEF
> "It would be awesome to have a real time camera feed from his helmet."
Hopefully out of respect to his family the news channels will edit out the last minute.
What's sad is at the end of the story:
God, we really built an entitlement society. People now think that a concept farts out of their brain, that it must be a) unique and b) theirs for all eternity. Now it seems the old adage of "Genius: one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration" should be changed to "Genius: one percent inspiration. Sue the suckers who put in the 99 percent perspiration."
It would be a cool way to commit suicide, I'll give you that.
The ISS is 230 miles up and you'd fall most of the way in vacuum, gaining 2.6kJ/kg of kinetic energy - meaning you'd be going around mach 7 when you hit the atmosphere With a good enough wing suit you *might* be able to spend enough time decelerating in the far upper atmosphere to avoid incinerating on reentry.
But to actually jump from the ISS you *start out* moving at 17,000mph(mach 22) - to reach the Earth you'd have to jump hard enough to neutralize enough of that velocity so that your new orbit intersected the atmosphere, but 200 miles is a fairly minor adjustment to a 4000-mile orbit, you might only need to shed a mach number or so, which you'd get back with interest as you fell. At that kind of speed you need to go to pretty extreme lengths to slow down - either a seriously large sturdy wing that can keep you in the far upper atmosphere shedding speed for a long time, or a serious heat shield. And I think either of those probably disqualify it from being considered a base jump.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
The speed he will be falling at will be higher than what would result to "supersonic" speed at ground level. However, with the thin atmosphere being so thin high up, he will not actually reach the speed of sound.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
Sounds to me like you're staying away from religion for religious reasons ;).
Newton didn't peddle his science as part of his religion. A rather important difference.
Kittinger is an actual hero. He should be celebrated up there with the pioneers of flight from the Wright brothers to the Astronauts in American history books, indeed world wide. He didn't just do it first. He did it first and he repeated multiple jumps. He suffered discomfort and injury. And he volunteered.
His service after those jumps was just as hero worthy, hell, his life after retiring from the military, with the first solo Atlantic crossing and other records places him in the books, yet again.
He's one of the last true aviation pioneers, if you ever get a chance to meet him in person, have him sign his own autobiography, it is an interesting read to say the least.
Newton didn't peddle his science as part of his religion. A rather important difference.
Actually, quite the opposite it true. Much of his writings center around the notion that a monotheistic God is the masterful creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation. --plagiarizer from the Wikipedia on Newton's views of religion.
Some days I get the sinking feeling Orwell was an optimist.