New Skydiving Record Attempt

[Irishgreen]

Tomorrow I shall pinch my Grandchilds balloon and sail up to 40.000 feet (or whatever). I will then fall...................If I die.....then ...big shit.

 

[siffert_fan]

You never know siffert_fan some of us may be pleased he did it if these space planes ever get going there may come a time when the passengers need to bail out....

Sorry, but the slipstream at the speed projected for those craft would tear the passangers apart as they left the plane.

 

[Irishgreen]

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/dr-strangelove?before=1348845300

 

[Brogan]

It appears he was around 100 km/h short of breaking the sound barrier.

it's a good job he managed to stop the tumble or it could all have been very different.

 

[Jos the Boss]

That's annoying, I got bored cus I had nothing to do so I went to bed, if I waited an extra 5 minutes I would have seen this! Teaches me to go to bed without checking!
But if, like me, you missed it, some BBC highlights http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19943590#TWEET273232

 

[soccerman17]

Sorry, but the slipstream at the speed projected for those craft would tear the passangers apart as they left the plane.

There has to be a way around that, and really there is no way to figure it out unless stunts like this are tried. Yes, Yeager's flight had a much greater scientific significance than this, but you can not just call it some clown's publicity stunt. Yes, it was a Red Bull publicity stunt but also a scientific experiment if you would.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Did any of you see that home made balloon and a camera that went into space made by a father and son? If not I'll dig it out and post it here it's quite incredible...

 

[cider_and_toast]

I see no comparison, frankly. when Chuck broke the sound barrier, as far as anyone knew the wings would fall off the plane, or he would lose control due to compressibility effects.

Loss of control was never an issue SF thanks to the most of the design work you guys "picked up in an exchange of ideas" with us after the war:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_M.52

 

[Speshal]

Mach 1.24 - 833 mph - 1200+ Km H - confirmed - awesome and Joe Kittinger's Wiki page had been edited 2 minutes after Felix landed

 

[cider_and_toast]

Now that, is pretty impressive. Fair play to the bloke.

 

[Brogan]

You have to wonder what it felt like travelling at that speed in just a space suit.

 

[cider_and_toast]

I would imagine not too different from someone trying to compress your brain, your testicles, your feet and all parts inbetween into an empty bean tin.

 

[gethinceri]

Yeah, it gets quite difficult after the testicles.

 

[Mephistopheles]

It depends on the size of the bean tin.....

 

[Brogan]

The full video is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19943194

Around 1m 50s you can see how badly he was tumbling.
It was fortunate indeed he was able to recover from that before he became too disoriented.

 

[canis]

This was just incredible, again someone who does things just because they are there (see some of my previous rants). I love freefall parachuting, but this man has nerves (and a sphincter) of steel to drop from that height, I was nervous just looking at the images when he was wating to jump.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Take a look at this..

 

[gethinceri]

Got bored after a minute.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Thanks for making me feel like a chump gethinceri I'll do the same for you one day....

 

[Speshal]

Don't know whether it is foolish or brave, but I can see no reason why anyone would bother making such an attempt except to satisfy their ego.

Ascent of Everest? Trek to the poles? Man on the moon - were they all egotistical stunts?