more at
https://jalopnik.com/5949353/everyth...ile-space-jump
On Tuesday, October 9th, Felix Baumgartner will participate in the final stage
of the Red Bull Stratos project, the highest sky diving mission in history.
He'll be jumping from 23 MILES above Roswell, New Mexico, which is enough to
consider this a space jump. This is what you need to know.
Red Bull is known for its sponsorship of extreme sports around the world. The
stratos jump might just be the most audacious thing they've attempted.
Basically, a huge helium balloon with a space capsule attached will rise to
120,000 feet, and a man, Felix Baumgartner, will then jump out of said capsule
and head towards Earth. During the jump, he is expected to hit 690 MPH within 30
seconds and become the first man to break the sound barrier. Think about that
for a second.
In preparation, there have been two successful jumps from 72,000 and 96,000
feet. The world record is 102,000 feet. The man who holds the 102,000 foot
record, Joseph Kittinger, is actually working with Red Bull on this jump.
Kittinger set the record 50 years ago. That's damn cool.
If Baumgartner lives through the 120,000 foot leap, he'll go down in the record
books as the man with the largest set of balls to ever set foot on this planet.
Red Bull is planning on launching a gigantic helium filled balloon from Roswell,
New Mexico that will then carry the capsule and Baumgartner up to 120,000 feet,
which is expected to take about three hours. Then he jumps out.
He isn't just jumping out in your typical sky diving wear either, Baumgartner is
going to outfitted up the wazoo with a state of the art pressurized suit, GPS,
g-force meters, a special parachute that can stop a tail spin, two real
parachutes, wide angle cameras, and multiple layers to survive the cold of
space.
If all goes to plan, the jump should last about 10 minutes. He will open his
chute five minutes in and descend for five more minutes. Once he jumps out, the
capsule and balloon will separate, allowing the capsule to return to Earth.
more at
https://jalopnik.com/5949353/everyth...ile-space-jump
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