*doffs hat*
Sunday also marks the 65th anniversary of U.S. test pilot Chuck Yeager successful attempt to become the first man to officially break the sound barrier aboard an airplane.
But here is today’s attempt:
Jumping from more than three times the height of the average cruising altitude for jetliners, [Felix] Baumgartner’s expects to hit a speed of 690 mph or more before he activates his parachute at 9,500 feet above sea level, or about 5,000 feet above the ground in southeastern New Mexico. The total jump should take about 10 minutes.
Wow. Whathehellfor?
Dr. Jonathan Clark, Baumgartner’s medical director, has told reporters he expects the pressurized spacesuit to protect him from the shock waves of breaking the sound barrier. If all goes well and he survives the jump, NASA could certify a new generation of spacesuits for protecting astronauts and provide an escape option from spacecraft at 120,000 feet, he said.
Useful. But then, to my tiny mind, pushing the envelope of Human Knowledge is always a useful and worthwhile undertaking.
For one of them, Dr Jonathan Clark, the operation’s medical director, there is an intensely personal reason for being involved.
Since his astronaut wife Laurel [Clark] was killed in 2003 when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas, the former Nasa flight surgeon has devoted his career to working to improve astronauts’ chances of surviving a similar high-altitude disaster.
So who’s paying for this research/daredevil endeavor?
The energy drink maker Red Bull, which is sponsoring the feat, has been promoting a live Internet stream of the event from nearly 30 cameras on the capsule, the ground and a helicopter. But organizers said there will be a 20-second delay in their broadcast of footage in case of a tragic accident.
Live Feed HERE.
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26 Comments!
Watching—-
Not any more— I can’t. I’m skeered.
Got distracted by football and just tuned in for his landing. Amazing.
Did he really do that or was that obama……….
That, Was. Freaking. Awesome.
I love him.
It looks like a 100% free-market effort, thanks for caffeine addicts and Red Bull. The only government involvement, according to the timeline was Baumgartner’s “U.S. gas balloon license.”
I don’t think it’s ever been the altitude that was the concern for astronaut survival; it was the velocity. At a substantial percent of escape velocity, which is around 18,000 miles per hour, even several inches of steel disintegrates in a fiery display.
Still, his efforts are exceptional and you can’t help but cheer.
Was anyone else holding their breath during that freefall?
As he tumbled about, I was starting to freak out
That was astounding!
Might have to go buy a red bull, or something.
Fantastic!! Free enterprise at it’s best. Yes Melissa, I worried about him getting into an uncontrollable spin. He did have a spin but he got out of it.
I want NASA back into manned space exploration. F**K that muslim outreach bullshit and the all muzzie half Negroid bastard that shackled NASA.
The highest jump I ever made was around 8,000′ and on a static line. This fellow beat me by so much I cannot fathom it. What a brave soul he is. This jump proved/disproved a number of theories re: man and altitude. Again, just fantastic.
I peeked when he was free falling and watched when the chute opened. Amazing!!! When he landed it was like he took a walk in the park. Some important testing going on by private enterprise–the way it should be.
Reminds me of the ’60 TV show The Man and the Challenge. It was a dramatized exploration of human psychology and physiology in parallel with the run-up to launching fellers into friggin’ SPACE! Hey, nobody knew nuthin’ about that stuff in 1960. Turns out that test pilots had it pretty much covered, but they looked at a bunch of other high-stress and high-danger activities.
The issue I would have been worried about was temperature., When I first went Mach 2 in an F4B, I had to be sure I stayed above 36,000 ft because air density below that altitude would overheat my jet. As it was, I noticed my canopy looking like a puddle of water that has gasoline poured it it; ala rainbow colors in the canopy plexiglass. Had not been briefed on that which got my attention. The other thing I noticed was that I started my run at Santa Catalina Island, heading parallel to the coast. In about 1.5 minutes I saw the resort area (…Cabo San Luis…) at the end of the pennisula in Mexico passing my 8 o`clock position! Which caused me to do the math, double+quick to see if I had the gas to get back to MCAS El Toro, CA. before flaming out!
I did, which avoided the axiom that: “It is better to be dead than look bad!”
Begs the question, If this guy had been unsuccessful, would his yells have arrived after he hit the ground?
Col. Jerry, SIR, you sure have had an innerestin’ life!
One of the primary goals of this final jump for Felix Baumgartner
was to see if it was possible for a man to survive freefalling at
or over the speed of sound (Mach 1). I’ve been stunned at the
lack of reporting about this primary aspect of this jump!
I had to search many sites & finally found that he had
reached Mach 1.24, which is about 833.9 MPH! I still don’t know
how he survived the heating from denser air friction below (FL36)
36,000ft that Col.J tallked about! Wasn’t able to get the video!
He probably had a small drogue chute to slow him down
before he turned into a big french fry! Whadda hero! I think we
needed that in these particular times!
I believe, in a completely non-scientific wild ass guess sort of way, that he didn’t burn up because at first he was traveling through a near-vacuum; as the pressure climbed, he slowed down.
This is one of the problems with doing science as an advertising stunt; you don’t get the engineering details.
Still, capitalistic free enterprise effort all the way. World’s greatest example of “Here, boys, hold my drink and watch this” ever.
Woo Hoo!
Thank you Lance,
FYI, 2,5 yrs before this flight, I was a Kentucky farm boy of 18. I Joined the Crotch for the very patriotic reason that my first love, Rita Jo, told me to take a hike! I enlisted in the USMC and graduated fm Parris Island as the platoon honor grad & was promoted to PFC. Had applied for the Marine Aviation Cadet program & got accepted after I completed infantry training Regiment. 18 months later I earned my Navy Wings of Gold and was commissioned a 2nd/Lt—age 20!
Was ordered to El Toro, CA. and assigned to a brand new F4B Phantom squadron. Feeling purty good for a farm boy, I went down to Balboa Island to meet some girls. Much too my distress, I was carded and could not enter into any club, because I was not 21!
Year later, I was ordered to combat in Vietnam, age 21. Two years later I left Vietnam, w 192 combat missions in the Phantom.
Because of my early start, age wise, I was promoted to Colonel at age 38. Average age for Colonels, at that time, was 42-44.
But for Rita Jo, I might have been driving a Farmal Internationall M tractor in the fields of our farm………………..
Never did go back and thank Rita Joe…..
World’s greatest example of “Here, boys, hold my drink and watch this” ever.
That was awesome :)
Still, capitalistic free enterprise effort all the way.
Ex-ACT-ly, DJ.
The only way this stunt got pulled off was keeping the government the f**k out of the way. (And I use the word “stunt” respectfully.)
A lot of people (including Bill Whittle) have been wondering if Armstrong et al strolling around on the moon is the greatest thing Man will ever achieve, and it’s all downhill from here. Yet many (including Whittle for sure) stress that this is only true if government is considered the only route to the stars. Turn the private sector loose, and there is literally no limit.
For what it’s worth, I happen to agree with the latter opinion.
Sondra,
You talkin about him or me?
Thanks Col. J. I was thinking about you and wondering ???
I plagiarize and butcher two great poems from an awful war:
From his mother’s sleep Felix fell into a hyperbaric gondola
And he hunched in it’s belly till his wet fur froze
24 miles from earth loosed from this dream of life
He slipped the tranquil bonds of strato-space
And woke to the nightmare of supersonic screams
And blacking out from hypoxia and wild gyrations
When he landed they drenched him with a can Red Bull.
Bravo to this Austrian speaker.
Today he broke a height record and speed record that was established on August 16, 1960 by a USAF Captain Kittinger.
Seems like a long time (52 years) for a to stand.
The old record was 19.5 miles 614mph (Mach .9) not quite the speed of sound. And it was before some of you were even born, so there’s that.
Chuck Yeager didn’t just mark the 65th anniversary of his first supersonic flight. The 90-year-old retired general flew an F-15 to Mach 1.4!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2217776/Chuck-Yeager-89-recreates-historic-mission-65-years-day-supersonic-flight.html
…..and no media here in the US covered it.
Chuck Yeager lives in Grass Valley, CA. , 7 miles from my home. I have never met him, but everybody who has met him has been unanimous in their description: “He is an asshole!” I am sorry to say that.
I have a lot of hobbies, but I never saw much appeal in jumping off of things.
^ That’s what makes people who do so awesome :)
I didn’t breathe from the moment he undid his buckle to when he knelt on the ground…
It’s sad when an energy drink commercial has a better space program than your country.
^ Well said^