Skydiver aims for supersonic plunge on Oct. 8

Steve williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Insanity or what

Can anyone explain what happens to him as he surpasses the speed of sound.....

By MARCIA DUNN, AP

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The countdown is on for skydiver Felix Baumgartner.

In just two weeks, Baumgartner will attempt to go supersonic when he jumps from a record altitude of 23 miles over New Mexico. Project managers announced Tuesday the feat will take place Oct. 8.

The Austrian parachutist jumped from 13 miles in March and 18 miles in July. This time, he hopes to break the all-time record of 19.5 miles set in 1960.

Baumgartner's capsule was damaged in the latest practice jump and had to be repaired and retested. A giant helium balloon will hoist the pressurized capsule with Baumgartner inside, dressed in a pressure suit. Takeoff will be from Roswell.

Baumgartner expects to reach a top speed of 690 mph and break the sound barrier with only his body.
 
He'll break the sound barrier while the air is still very thin. Hopefully there won't be much of a shockwave.
 
Kittinger is playing a huge role in the Stratos project.
 
I really don't know if the speed of sound is that much lower. It is but I don't know by how much. As for reaching the sea level speed of sound, I believe it is a function of friction. Normal jump height terminal velocity is in the 100s (I saw it in Myth Busters LOL ). From up there in the Stratosphere, he may be able to get to 700+ MPH. His mentor Kittinger reached the 600s.

Okay I admit it. I follow everything the crazies at Red Bull attempt to pull off.
 
Associated Press

All systems go for Felix Baumgartner's 23-mile-high freefall toward sound barrier



His blood could boil. His lungs could overinflate. The vessels in his brain could burst. His eyes could hemorrhage.
And, yes, he could break his neck while jumping from a mind-boggling altitude of 23 miles (37 kilometers).
But the risk of a gruesome death has never stopped "Fearless Felix" Baumgartner in all his years of skydiving and skyscraper leaping, and it's not about to now.
Next Monday over New Mexico, he will attempt the highest, fastest free fall in history and try to become the first skydiver to break the sound barrier.
"So many unknowns," Baumgartner says, "but we have solutions to survive."
The 43-year-old former military parachutist from Austria is hoping to reach 690 mph (1,110 kph), or Mach 1, after leaping from his balloon-hoisted capsule over the desert near Roswell.
He will have only a pressurized suit and helmet for protection as he tries to go supersonic 65 years after Chuck Yeager, flying an experimental rocket plane, became the first human to go faster than the speed of sound.
Doctors, engineers and others on Baumgartner's Red Bull-sponsored team have spent as much as five years studying the risks and believe they have done everything possible to bring him back alive. He has tested out his suit and capsule in two dress rehearsals, jumping from 15 miles (24 kilometers) in March and 18 miles (29 kilometers) in July.
Baumgartner will be more than three times higher than the cruising altitude of jetliners when he hops, bunny-style, out of the capsule and into a near-vacuum where there is barely any oxygen and less than 1 percent of the air pressure on Earth.
If all goes well, he will reach the speed of sound in about half a minute at an altitude of around 100,000 feet (30,480 meters). Then he will start to slow as the atmosphere gets denser, and after five minutes of free fall, he will pull his main parachute. The entire descent should last 15 to 20 minutes.
He will be rigged with cameras that will provide a live broadcast of the jump via the Internet, meaning countless viewers could end up witnessing a horrific accident.
Baumgartner is insistent on going live with his flight.
"We want to share that with the world," he says. "It's like landing on the moon. Why was that live?"
His team of experts -- including the current record-holder from a half-century ago, Joe Kittinger, now 84 -- will convene inside a NASA-style Mission Control in the wee hours Monday for the liftoff of the helium balloon at sunrise.
"All the things that can happen are varying degrees of bad," offers Baumgartner's top medical man, Dr. Jonathan Clark, a former NASA flight surgeon.
Clark was married to space shuttle astronaut Laurel Clark, who was killed aboard Columbia while it was returning to Earth in 2003, and he has dedicated himself to improving astronauts' chances of survival in a high-altitude disaster.
NASA is paying close attention, eager to improve its spacecraft and spacesuits for emergency escape, but is merely an observer; the energy drink maker is footing the bill and will not say how much it is costing.

The No. 1 fear is a breach of Baumgartner's suit.
If it breaks open -- if, say, he bangs into the capsule while jumping or supersonic shock waves batter him -- potentially lethal bubbles could form in his bodily fluids. That's what's known as boiling blood. A Soviet military officer died in 1962 after jumping from a balloon at 86,000 feet (26,213 meters); the visor of his helmet hit the gondola and cracked.
During the descent, the temperature could be as low as minus -70. (-56 Celsius). Baumgartner's suit will be all he has between his body and the extreme cold.
Then there's the risk of a flat spin, in which Baumgartner loses control of his body during the free fall and starts spinning. A long, fast spin, if left unchecked, could turn his eyeballs into blood-soaked, reddish-purple orbs, and he could be left temporarily blind. Also, a massive blood clot could form in his brain.
A small stabilizing chute will automatically deploy if he goes into a flat spin and blacks out or otherwise becomes incapacitated. He also has an emergency chute that will automatically deploy if he is unable to pull the cord on his main chute.
Baumgartner's team has a plan for every contingency but one: If the balloon ruptures shortly after liftoff because of a gust of wind or something else, the capsule will come crashing down with him inside. He won't have time to blow the hatch and bail out.
"I have every expectation that he'll come through this successfully based on our analysis," Clark says, "but you know, it still is an unknown."
Kittinger leapt from an open gondola on Aug. 16, 1960, from an altitude of 19.5 miles (31.4 kilometers) and reached 614 mph (988 kph), or Mach 0.9 -- records that stand to this day. He was a captain in the Air Force, and the military's Excelsior project was a test bed for America's young space program.
Kittinger has been Baumgartner's mentor, signing on with this new project after decades of refusing others' requests.
Fearless Felix insists he would not attempt the jump if the odds were against him.
"I think they underestimate the skills of a skydiver," says Baumgartner, who has made more than 2,500 jumps from planes, helicopters, landmarks and skyscrapers, with no serious injuries.
If he makes it back in one piece, Baumgartner plans on settling down with his girlfriend and flying helicopters in the U.S. and Austria, performing mountain rescues and firefighting.
"After this," he promises, "I'm going to retire because I've been successfully doing things for the last 25 years and I'm still alive."
 
Watch Live: Felix Baumgartner Freefalls from the Edge of Space

By DOUG AAMOTHKeep it right here for live video of the Red Bull Stratos. Felix Baumgartner will ascend to 120,000 feet in a stratospheric balloon, then freefall back down to earth at top speeds estimated near 690 miles per hour. If successful, Baumgartner will “become the first man to break the speed of sound in freefall,” says Red Bull, “while delivering valuable data for medical and scientific advancement.”

Due to weather, the launch is currently on hold for no earlier than 11:30am MT/1:30pm ET. This page will get updated should the launch get delayed further.



Read more: http://techland.time.com/2012/10/09...eefalls-from-the-edge-of-space/#ixzz28oLdhJ7q
 
Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking jump from the edge of space aborted
High winds force daredevil to delay his attempt to break the sound barrier in a freefall from 23 miles above Earth

Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner's attempt to parachute to earth from the edge of space has been postponed for the second day running after gusty winds in New Mexico hampered the launch of the balloon that would take him skywards.

Baumgartner, a 43-year-old former soldier, was aiming to jump from 23 miles above the Earth in a specially pressurised suit, plummetting to the ground at speeds that would break the sound barrier before he triggers his parachute.

The stunt, if successful, would break five world records. Baumgartner would become the first human to ever break the sound barrier in free-fall; make the highest free-fall altitude jump, ride the highest manned balloon flight and longest free-fall and his jump platform is believed to be the largest manned balloon in history.

Baumgartner has made a name for himself with acts of derring-do. The former paratrooper, known as "Fearless Felix" for reasons that need no explanation, has parachuted off buildings and mountains and once into a 600 foot deep cave. Baumgartner had already done two practise freefalls – one from 71,000 feet in March this year and a second from 97,000 feet in July.

The jump was due to take place far above an airfield near the town of Roswell, which is famous for its UFO sighting. All had appeared well as Baumgartner donned his special suit, climbed into the capsule and then waited for the balloon to inflate. "I am strapped into the capsule and I am ready to go," he had told the stunt's mission control team.

However, as the slivery balloon began to be inflated it was buffeted by heavy winds and the mission was postponed. Depending on weather conditions, another attempt is likely to be made on Wednesday. Baumgartner, whose attempt is sponsored and run by the caffeinated drinks brand Red Bull, had postponed his first attempt on Monday, also after high winds.

If successful Baumgartner's feat will raise the prospect that stricken astronauts might be able to survive a disaster of the type that hit the space shuttle Columbia in 2003 by actually bailing out of their craft. Baumgartner's top medical man in the stunt is Dr. Jonathan Clark, whose wife Laurel Clark died in the Columbia accident. Clark is now dedicated to improving astronauts' chances of survival in a high-altitude disaster.
 
Have they tested this free fall with a dummy first? Will the parachute even hold up at 600+ mph? Or is he going to be blown into pieces and die as ungracefully as this idiot
 
Meteorologist: supersonic skydive 'a go' on Sunday

ROSWELL, N.M. — The weekend weather in New Mexico appears to be cooperating this time for a daredevil trying to become the first skydiver to break the sound barrier.

Meteorologist Don Day said the weather forecast remained favorable for former Austrian paratrooper Felix Baumgartner's jump, scheduled for early Sunday near Roswell, N.M.

Baumgartner will be prepared at sunrise to launch his 30 million cubic foot helium balloon to hoist a 3,000-pound capsule that will carry the jumper 23 miles up in the sky. The jump has already been canceled twice due to high winds, once damaging the balloon and forcing use of a backup for Sunday's planned launch.

Baumgartner will try to break a 1960 high-altitude parachuting record. He will also test a pressurized suit that is designed for stratospheric jumps.

He called Tuesday's postponement nerve-wracking but said Sunday's date is one already steeped in aviation history. On October 14, 1947, an experimental rocket plane Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier for the first time over Edwards Air Force Base in California.

"I want to break the speed of sound, no matter what it takes," he said in a statement. "As long as we have a spare balloon and more launch days, I'm good."
 
--- 834mph, wow!

Soooo, much faster above the earth's atmosphere? ...I guess so.
But then, how come he didn't explode, from pure pressure? ...'Spacial' suit?

Is there a link explaining everything?
 
--- Ok, last question; what truly drives him to do that, Guinness book of world records?

And, where did he get the money for all that stuff? ...Must be very expensive!
 

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