Space, Technology and Society

A Successful Test Jump

22 Comments

From over seventy-thousand feet:

Baumgartner is gearing up for an even bigger leap — his so-called “space jump” — from 120,000 feet (36,576 m) this summer. The current record for highest-altitude skydive is 102,800 feet (31,333 m), set in 1960 by U.S. Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger.

Baumgartner hopes his attempt will also set several other marks. He is chasing the record for longest freefall (estimated to be about 5 minutes and 30 seconds from 120,000 feet), and he hopes to become the first person to break the speed of sound during freefall.

At some point, this raises the question: at what point does a space suit become a very small, tight-fitting supersonic aircraft?

Another question. If someone wanted to try this from (say) an Armadillo vehicle, would the expectations of safety during ascent be the same as (again, say) someone doing a research experiment? Or someone who just wanted to enjoy the view?

22 thoughts on “A Successful Test Jump”

  3. Proof positive that some people are, using strictly clinical terminology, total wackadoos!!!

  4. Baumgartner has a history of this stuff, he flew his carbon wing over la Manche etc.
    Strange that the cold came as so much of a surprise on this attempt, would have thought that this is well planned and tested by now – also do they have enough time to fix that before summer ?

    1. They may go low tech and get some of those small chemical heat pads that hunters and campers buy and put them into the gloves.

      1. Those heat pads require atmospheric oxygen, if I understand correctly. I understand electrically heated gloves and socks are available – those might be a safer bet?

        1. Electric gloves will work. If those heat pads are inside the gloves, they’ll have oxygen. However, they might actually get too hot and cause burns.

  5. Gotta agree with a comment over there – this is totally wrong.

    From launch to touchdown, the entire test flight lasted just over eight minutes, officials said.

    I’ll buy the descent at 8 minutes.

    1. Yes, you’re right. According to this article, The ascent, jump and landing took 1 hour and 40 minutes. It all went off without a hitch, though Baumgartner said it was just a bit cold at that attitude — more than 75 degrees below zero.

  6. Makes you think there might be a market for a suborbital vehicle that has bombay doors for dropping humans out of the bottom during apogee.

  7. So it looks Kittenger’s record will fall after 52 years. Any bets that if he breaks the record later this year, That record will only last 10 yrs max? Maybe he will break his own record when he buys a ride with Blue Origin? Felix needs to start designing himself a wearable shuttlecock stabilized reentry suit. ( ala spaceship one)

  8. Impressive. I can’t wait to see a real space jump from 329,000 feet.

    Remember: no matter how far you fall — from 100,000 feet or from 300,000 feet — you still hit the ground at 120 miles per hour if your chute doesn’t work.

    Fifty years from now, teenagers will be surfing down from orbit on MOOSE-style space boogie boards.

    1. That depends on a lot of factors such as your body position. A skydiver doing a head stand can hit close to 200 MPH terminal velocity. Also, terminal velocity might be higher wearing a heavy spacesuit.

      It is cool to note that once he hits his terminal velocity at altitude of over 600 MPH, he’ll be slowing down due to falling into denser air even before opening his chute.

        1. Because it would increase the ballistic coefficient. More weight for the same drag level means more net acceleration, and a higher terminal velocity.

        2. Terminal velocity is achieved when atmospheric drag is equal to the acceleration due to gravity (in imprecise terms, weight). A spacesuit is heavier than a normal skydiver’s jumpsuit, so the terminal velocity might be higher. However, a spacesuit might have higher drag due to things like the life support system. If the extra drag compensates for the extra weight, then it could be a wash.

          2. Yes, a feather and a hammer dropped on the moon will fall at the same rate (they actually demoed this on Apollo), but not in the atmosphere. As a thought experiment, imagine dropping a styrofoam hammer and a real one from a plane. Which do you think will hit the ground first?

  9. Josh R,
    sounds like the next ‘bungee’ style craze. Plenty of money to e made, and you just came up with the name for the company. You’ll just need to change the spelling.

    APOGEEEEEEeeeeeeee………….

  10. Regulators are wildly inconsistent about what level of safety they demand from roughly equivalent ways of doing certain things.

    It is still the case that the least safe way of getting to 29,000 feet is to walk there. Yet it is nevertheless legal to do so.

  11. Jim Bennett wrote:
    “It is still the case that the least safe way of getting to 29,000 feet is to walk there. Yet it is nevertheless legal to do so.”

    That, sir, is priceless. I will repeat that far and wide.

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