Freefall

[Gob]

Skydiver Fearless Felix Baumgartner has made his second stratospheric leap, this time from more than 29 kilometres above the Earth - nearly three times higher than cruising jetliners.

The Austrian landed safely near Roswell, New Mexico, according to a project spokeswoman.

His top speed was an estimated 862km/h, said Brian Utley, an official observer on site.



It's a personal best for Baumgartner, who is aiming for a record-breaking jump from 37 kilometres in another month.

He hopes to go supersonic, breaking the speed of sound with just his body.

"It has always been a dream of mine," Baumgartner said in a statement following Wednesday's feat. "Only one more step to go."

Longtime record-holder Joe Kittinger jumped from 31 kilometres in 1960 for the air force. The 84-year-old Kittinger monitored Wednesday's jump.

The 43-year-old Baumgartner ascended alone in an enclosed capsule lifted by a giant helium balloon. He wore a full-pressure suit equipped with parachutes and an oxygen supply. There's virtually no atmosphere that far up.

"It felt completely different at 90,000 feet," Baumgartner noted. "There is no control when you exit the capsule. There is no way to get stable."

He was in free fall for an estimated three minutes and 48 seconds before opening his parachutes.

NASA is paying close attention to the project called Stratos, short for stratosphere. The US space agency wants to learn all it can about potential escape systems for future rocket ships.

Baumgartner won't come close to space, even on the ultimate jump that's planned for late August or early September. Space officially begins at 100 kilometres.

Baumgartner, a former military parachutist and extreme athlete, has jumped more than 2500 times from planes and helicopters, as well as from skyscrapers and landmarks, including the 101-storey Taipei 101 in Taiwan.

[dales]

NASA is paying close attention to the project called Stratos, short for stratosphere. The US space agency wants to learn all it can about potential escape systems for future rocket ships.

Can't say as I blame them (using ruskie rocket motors and all).

[Gob]

It happens on Tuesday!!

About 40 seconds into Felix Baumgartner's 36.5-kilometre plunge to Earth, he will become the first human to smash through the speed of sound without the protection of a craft.


That is, if the 42-year-old Austrian BASE-jumper's death-defying free-fall over the US south-west on Tuesday night, Sydney time, goes to plan.

Baumgartner will have ascended for nearly three hours below a gigantic, yet paper-thin, balloon to the edge of space. He will have passed through the tropopause, where aeroplanes cruise in minus 60 degrees, to the top tier of the stratosphere.

There, he might consult his maker before looking through the ozone haze to Earth's curvature and stepping out in his high-pressure suit to the capsule's ledge. Then he'll jump, yielding to gravity over 15 multi-record-breaking minutes.

Seven years from conception, two years since initial testing and 52 years since Joe Kittinger leapt from 31,300 metres to help the US space program, the Stratos mission, orchestrated by Red Bull, is primed for lift-off.

The aim is to see what happens when a free-falling human exceeds supersonic velocity, which at 30,000 metres, plummeting virtually head first, is about 1,110km/h. It's also to gather information to be used to develop commercial space flight.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-te ... z28Uhz62KI

[Sean]

The aim is to see what happens when a free-falling human exceeds supersonic velocity,

I can too easily imagine a group of scientists huddled around a monitor saying, "Well, I don't think any of us expected that to happen..."

[Econoline]

The defining characteristic of affluence is...FREE FALL!

[MajGenl.Meade]

The Austrian landed safely near Roswell, New Mexico

Last time we'll see him then. Ag, shame.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Are we sure it was him?

[MajGenl.Meade]

It wasn't anybody according to a government spokesman speaking on background.