Parachute from space?!

[lurkingdirk]

I know this video is old and many of you have seen it before but once in a while I like to revisit it to remind myself that life is not about staying at home, being safe and avoiding all the dangers the outside world might throw your way. Life is about adventure, it’s about getting into a balloon, ascending 100,000ft and jumping out.

On August 16, 1960, Joseph Kittinger jumped out of a balloon from an air-thin height of 102,800 feet. He fell for 4 minutes and 36 seconds reaching a maximum speed of 614 mph before opening his parachute at 18,000 feet. Breaking the speed of sound during the fall, Kittinger used a small stabilizing chute before a larger, main parachute opened in the denser atmosphere. He safely touched down in barren New Mexico desert, 13 minutes 45 seconds after he vaulted into the void. He set historical numbers for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest drogue-fall (4 min), and fastest speed by a human through the atmosphere.

 

[Mauser98k]

"reaching a maximum speed of 614 mph"..."Breaking the speed of sound during the fall".

the speed of sound is broken at 768 mph so he couldn't have broken the sound barrier.

 

[domshooter]

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

ah, wikipedia, so useful. but your right Mauser, he did clock in below the speed of sound

 

[Ulysses31]

More Here

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...s-like-dive-space-700mph-Soon-chance-out.html

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

Forty years later, Kittinger's life was adapted into the video game series Halo.

 

[vodkazvictim]

I thought you were disembowelled if you broke the sound barrier without the protection of an aircraft? I was under the impression that pilots were forbidden to eject supersonic for fear that the shockwave would disembowel them?

 

[BlueBalls]

I remember the BBC doing a show either about this incident or it was discussed in depth on a documentary about atmospheric layers. The first time I saw the footage, my ass clenched together tighter than a Brazilian woman's fist around dead fish.

One thing though, I really dislike the remix of the Moby track they've used for this video. Surely the original piece of music packed enough emotional wait behind it to be sufficiently palatable to the audience rather than having to add that ridiculous dance beat to it.

Bah!

 

[maildude]

The crazy fucker was just trying to get on YouTube. Of course, the Internet and YouTube hadn't been invented yet. So the guy was a visionary. And he had a death wish. And he probably shit his pants when he landed. Like Alan Shepard did. Or maybe Shepard pissed his pants. I can't remember.

 

[vodkazvictim]

I remember the BBC doing a show either about this incident or it was discussed in depth on a documentary about atmospheric layers. The first time I saw the footage, my ass clenched together tighter than a Brazilian woman's fist around dead fish.

One thing though, I really dislike the remix of the Moby track they've used for this video. Surely the original piece of music packed enough emotional weight behind it to be sufficiently palatable to the audience rather than having to add that ridiculous dance beat to it.

Bah!

Emotional weight, dear boy.

 

[LukeEl]

Then he hatched out of a glittering egg and sang Mot The Hoople.

 

[D-rock]

Remember the atmosphere is a lot less dense at extreme altitudes like that making falling faster than at lower altitudes possible. The speed of sound is also different based on temperature, composition of the material that is went through, and density.

Also when a pilot ejects from an aircraft he is hit with the force of the air that wasn't their before suddenly. He doesn't get to build up gradual acceleration through it. That's why pilots can't eject at high speeds.

On one of his jumped he passed out. I don't remember what it was but it might have been because of some decompression. He was only saved by the automated release for his chutes. That's pretty good considering how long ago they made those things. There were no micro sized electronics and computers that could do that. Although they way they make things now I don't think I would want to trust my life to the way they make electronics now days.