Daredevil skydives from 18 miles above Earth

[Hum]

(Reuters) - An Austrian daredevil jumped from a balloon flying at an altitude more than 18 miles above Earth on Wednesday, falling at speeds topping 500 miles per hour (805 kilometers per hour) in a training run for his attempt to make the world's highest skydive.

Felix Baumgartner landed safely in a desert near Roswell, New Mexico after leaping from an estimated 96,940 feet wearing a pressurized space suit equipped with an oxygen supply.

The test parachute jump was the second for Baumgartner, who is on a quest to complete a record-breaking skydive from 120,000 feet in the coming weeks. He also hopes to become the first man to break the speed of sound at 700 mph in a free fall.

"Only one more step to go," Baumgartner said in a statement.

The current record for the highest altitude skydive is 102,800 feet. It was set 52 years ago by U.S. Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger, who is serving as an adviser to Baumgartner.

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[Anibal P]

Just wish they live streamed these as they happen instead of getting footage after the fact

[Salty Wagyu]

Any video of the whole jump? Don't like the 10-15 second clips of highlights that news sites normally do.

[Hum]

Just wish they live streamed these as they happen instead of getting footage after the fact

What if he goes SPLAT ?

[ATLien_0]

What if he goes SPLAT ?

just put a 30 second delay on it like any broadcast if something goes wrong

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

If i was him i would come up with an anagram for SPLAT to use that to name my suit

[Growled Member]

I wonder what it's like being that high above the earth in freefall?

[DocM]

As a thrill seeking younger man (read: half nuts) I've gone out at just short of 30,000' for a civilian HALO-style jump and it's pretty quiet with a deeper blue sky. You are on bottled O2 and in a pilot-style suit, have zero perception of speed, can see the Earth's curvature and the atmosphere above the horizon (you're above most of it.) For him the sky would be blacker, the Earth's curvature greater and the free fall minutes longer.

What NASA is interested in out of this is how well his new spacesuit works. Ditto for the NewSpace companies. They are all interested in developing techniques for "SpaceDiving" as a way to bail out / eject from a disabled spacecraft and re-enter just in the suit - very much like the scene in the last Star Trek film.

[Hum]

I wonder what it's like being that high above the earth in freefall?

Jump down your basement stairs. :p

[Growled Member]

What NASA is interested in out of this is how well his new spacesuit works. Ditto for the NewSpace companies. They are all interested in developing techniques for "SpaceDiving" as a way to bail out / eject from a disabled spacecraft and re-enter just in the suit - very much like the scene in the last Star Trek film.

I can see how that could be helpful.

[KingCracker]

I wanna watch his arms and legs rip off and then burn up.

[DocM]

Step one in this is a flexible, maneuverable suit. NASA's current suits aren't - they're stiff, bulky and uncomfortable. Re-entry tech comes later, but the recent successful test of an inflatable heat shield tech is encouraging.

Here's another article on this that goes into the suit a bit more -

http://www.theatlant...ight-suit/9011/

Then there is MIT's BioSuit (image compared to current NASA suit.) It uses spandex and other modern materials to provide mechanical pressure to the body instead of using an inflatable bladder and air perssure.

http://en.wikipedia....y_suit#Bio-Suit

[Hum]

I'd sure be yelling 'look out below' -- cuz I'd pee myself. :p

[The Rev]

Jealous. :-p