| masraum |
10-25-2014 01:44 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by jorian
(Post 8323677)
800 MPH descent. Must've been hella loud.
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What Gogar said. That's why these guys hit 800mph. If there was enough air to make the noise that you're thinking of, they'd top out around 120mph or so. There are guys that go for speed when skydiving and by streamlining your body as much as possible and jumping from a normal height (around 13500-14000ft, you max out in the 250-350mph range depending upon how streamlined you are.
The jump that these guys are doing is extremely impressive, but honestly, they aren't quite as impressive as Joseph Kittinger who set the previous record in 1960.
Joe Kittinger’s Death-Defying Leap From the Edge of Space
Not the whole article, just some excerpts
Quote:
The effect of low atmospheric pressure on the human body would become painfully evident to Kittinger later in the flight, when his pressurized right glove would spring a leak and his hand would swell to gross proportions. But right then, unaware of what was to come, Kittinger calmly focused on preparing for his historic flight.
His flight was part of the Air Force’s Project Excelsior, a series of three missions to test a multi-stage parachute that would provide a controlled descent for fighter pilots forced to eject at high altitudes. The parachute’s design included a trio of chutes of varying sizes that would deploy automatically based on altimeter readings on the pack. In theory, this combination of parachutes would prevent a pilot ejecting in the stratosphere from spinning out of control at a deadly rate, sometimes as fast as 200 revolutions per minute.
Kittinger had already performed two test jumps with the new parachute from high altitude, one with near-catastrophic results. During the Excelsior I mission of November 16, 1959, his stabilizer parachute opened too soon, and the cords wrapped around his neck. Rendered unconscious, Kittinger was saved when his main chute opened automatically and the small chute broke away as designed. Undeterred by this debacle, Kittinger climbed into the Excelsior gondola a second time to better results. Now, sitting in the tin can for a third time, Kittinger awaited the chance to float higher into the atmosphere than ever before.
About 90 minutes after liftoff, Kittinger exceeded his target altitude, reaching 102,800 feet—far higher than the 75,000 feet he’d achieved on previous flights. Floating in a gondola at that altitude “was a weird sensation,” he would recall nearly 40 years later
Hurtling through the stratosphere face first, Kittinger had no sensation of falling, he would later remember. As he turned to look back at the balloon, he was astonished to see it rocketing upward into space before realizing that he was the one in motion, falling away at record speed. In fact, his freefall toward earth approached the speed of sound.
For about five breathtaking minutes, Kittinger free-fell with only his small stabilizer parachute to protect him from spinning to death.
Today, Kittinger continues to fly, and he chronicled his avionics adventures—including Project Excelsior—in a recently published autobiography, “Come Up and Get Me.” And next week, he’ll be assisting the man who aims to snatch away his record, Austrian Felix Baumgartner. During the Red Bull Stratos record freefall attempt Kittinger will act as “capcom” (capsule communications chief)—mission control’s primary point of radio contact with Baumgartner throughout his ascent.
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