I’m sure most of my tech peeps already know all about this story, but to sum it up in a sentence: last Sunday, Felix Baumgardner rode in a balloon to the edge of space (almost 25 miles above the Earth) and then jumped out of it, breaking the speed of sound before opening his parachute and landing safely in Roswell, New Mexico.
The entire thing was broadcast live on the Internet. (I heard this morning that there was a 20 second delay just in case things went terribly wrong, but still.) Yesterday, on my computer, I watched a guy skydive from 128,000 feet. If you missed it, here it is/ If you didn’t see it, please watch it.
I love the sound of Felix’s heavy breathing right after he jumps. I was breathing just as hard.
So, a few things here.
– The older gentleman that can be heard talking Felix through the pre-jump checklist is Joe Kittinger, the man who up until this past weekend held the free-falling records. He set them in the 1960s, when he jumped from 19.5 miles above the Earth and hit speeds of 614mph. (Kittinger did not break the sound barrier in his attempt.)
– According to the video, Felix’s suit contained just less than 10 minutes worth of oxygen. The fall took just over 9 minutes. To any kid in school right now thinking that math doesn’t count: math counts.
– During the jump, Felix hit 834 miles per hour, or Mach 1.24, becoming the first human being to break the sound barrier outside of a craft. Yesterday was also the 65th anniversary of Chuck Yeager’s groundbreaking flight when he first broke the speed barrier.
– According to the Guinness Book of World Records, “Fearless Felix” broke five world records: the first person to break the sound barrier in freefall, the highest vertical speed in freefall, the highest freefall parachute jump, and the greatest freefall distance. He also broke the record for the most number of people streaming from Youtube; over 8 million people watched the jump live on the Internet. One record Felix did not break was the longest freefall. Kittinger’s original fall lasted 4 minutes, 36 seconds, a full 16 seconds longer than Felix’s jump. If that was intentional, it was an honorable gesture.
Congratulations to Felix Baumgardner on his successful jump, and kudos to Red Bull for sponsoring Felix on his five year mission to break the record. I feel like drinking a Red Bull right now!
He opened his chute before the record was broken because his visor was fogging up and he couldn’t see how fast the ground was coming at him (first part, fact; second part, my assumption). I probably wouldn’t have lasted that long. In fact, if you could have pried my fingers loose to get me out of that capsule, I would have been unconscious shortly thereafter and dead about the time I hit the ground without having pulled the chute cord at all!