Plan B Forum

It will be one giant leap for man – and leave the rest of mankind dizzy at the thought.



The world’s most daring skydiver is preparing to jump out of a balloon on the edge of space.

Felix Baumgartner, 42, hopes to break an altitude record which has lasted more than 50 years.

He plans to dive 120,000ft – nearly 23 miles – from the adapted weather balloon full of helium.

It should take 35 seconds to break the sound barrier and ten minutes in all, reaching more than 690mph.

Baumgartner will not deploy his parachute until he is less than 5,000ft from the ground and he must rely on an astronaut suit and oxygen tanks to keep him alive.

His team is expected to announce formally this week that he will make the record-breaking jump above New Mexico in August.

Baumgartner will make two test jumps at 60,000ft and 90,000ft in the coming months before the world record attempt, sponsored by the energy drink manufacturer Red Bull.

He had intended to make the leap last year but a promoter named Daniel Hogan claimed the stunt was his idea and took legal action.

The claim has now been settled, clearing the way for the ultimate skydive.

Baumgartner, an Austrian helicopter pilot, hopes to break four world records: Highest-altitude freefall, highest manned balloon flight, longest distance travelled in freefall and fastest freefall.



His previous records include lowest parachute jump, 95ft off the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, and highest jump from a building – 1,479ft from the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In 2003 he also became the first person to skydive across the English Channel.

Engineers have spent more than two years refining the suit which will keep him alive in temperatures of -70c.

The current altitude record was set by U.S. Air Force colonel Joe Kittinger, who jumped from a balloon at 102,800ft in 1960. Commercial airliners typically cruise at 35,000ft.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1ldF1cnFg

dgs49 wrote:Is there anything of scientific (or other) value to be gained by this?

Or is it just some asshole doing something stupid to gain notoriety?

Can we blame this on the publishers of the Guinness Book, or is it just human nature?

Sean wrote:

You can't fool me...

That's Boba Fett!

Kittinger is currently advising Felix Baumgartner on a planned free-fall from 120,000 feet (about 36,000m). The project is called the Red Bull Stratos project and has collected leading experts in the fields of aeronautics, medicine and engineering to ensure its success. Felix Baumgartner will also become the first person ever to break the sound barrier while in free fall, if his jump is successful. Baumgartner's jump will be used to test the next generation of full pressure suits, used in space and to collect useful medical and scientific information

Gob wrote:

"...

The current altitude record was set by U.S. Air Force colonel Joe Kittinger, who jumped from a balloon at 102,800ft in 1960.

dales wrote:

Skydiving daredevil Felix Baumgartner is more than halfway toward his goal of setting a world record for the highest jump.




Baumgartner lifted off Thursday for a test jump from Roswell, N.M., aboard a 100-foot helium balloon. He rode inside a pressurized capsule to 71,581 feet — 13.6 miles — and then jumped. He parachuted to a safe landing, according to project spokeswoman Trish Medalen.

He's aiming for nearly 23 miles this summer. The record is 19.5 miles.

"The view is amazing, way better than I thought," Baumgartner said after the practice jump, in remarks provided by his representatives.

Thursday's rehearsal was a test of his capsule, full-pressure suit, parachutes and other systems. A mini Mission Control — fashioned after NASA's — monitored his flight.

Baumgartner reached speeds of up to 364.4 mph Thursday and was in free fall for three minutes and 43 seconds, before pulling his parachute cords, Medalen said. The entire jump lasted eight minutes and eight seconds. She stressed that the numbers are still unofficial.

With Thursday's successful test, Baumgartner is believed to be only the third person ever to jump from such a high altitude and free fall to a safe landing, and the first in a half-century.

"I'm now a member of a pretty small club," he said.

When the 42-year-old Austrian known as "Fearless Felix" leaps from 120,000 feet in a few months, he expects to break the sound barrier as he falls through the stratosphere at supersonic speed. There's virtually no atmosphere that far up, making it extremely hostile to humans, thus the need for a pressure suit and oxygen supply.

The record for the highest free fall is held by Joe Kittinger, a retired Air Force officer from Florida. He jumped from 102,800 feet — 19.5 miles — in 1960.

Baumgartner lifted off Thursday for a test jump from Roswell, N.M.,

Liberty1 wrote:The guy who really had guts was the guy who did it in 1959.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Excelsior