and worth every penny to Red Bull.
What a landing!

It was a marvelous achievement and that guy has nerves of steel. Very cool.

But as far as the "sound barrier" thing goes, that "barrier" is a bit ambiguous, varying with air pressure and temperature. And considering he achieves that speed in a super thin atmosphere, the concept of "sound" is pretty iffy. If you don't have an atmosphere, you can't really have sound waves.

The claim really should be that he passed the speed where, in our normal atmosphere, he would have set off a sonic boom. But that speed in the atmosphere would have been instantly fatal without a protective capsule. It would have ripped his body apart.

What is really amazing is how long the previous record stood.

First of all, the 'barrier' is not ambiguous; the point about it is that is describes the behaviour of a fluid, and has real implications on how the fluid reacts to a body moving through it. There is enough atmosphere at that level to still measure the behaviour.

During the real time display, I didn't see the velocity go above 720. The "speed of sound" is something like 760 MPH, but that is at sea level. The speed varies widely.

After the jump, the team said his peak speed was in the 800s, so that is certainly above the "speed of sound" in the normal atmosphere.

Was there a "sonic boom" or did he just go faster than an arbitrary number? "Breaking the sound barrier" implies a boom, even if it is a small one.

And, clearly, if he reached a maximum speed, then air resistance must have been what limited the speed. The current figure is reckoned to be 1342 km/h (834 mph - Mach 1.24 at that height, which gives a speed of sound of 673 mph at that height), or 373 m/s. Without air resistance, you'd reach that in 38 seconds. He didn't open a parachute until over 4 minutes into the fall; air resistance obviously did matter, even in the early stages of the fall.

I disagree about a 'boom' being part of breaking the sound barrier; as I said, it's about the physics of the airflow around him.

Did such a shock happen? Has it been measured?

That was a question before the jump. If he "broke the barrier", would that be dangerous? We know that when aircraft do this in the normal atmosphere, creating an audible shock wave, this puts a lot of stress on the aircraft. I have not heard anything that indicates Baumgartner experienced anything like that. In fact, just the opposite. He said he really didn't feel anything -- no rippling of his jump suit. No wind noise, etc.

I don't mean to minimize the significance of this event. But I just question the imagery of him "breaking the sound barrier". It seems he did not do so in the sense most people understand that term (i.e. a sonic boom), although he went pretty darned fast.

where there wasn't anything to record it, apart from possibly the gondola.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_boom

David Benner used to tell a joke abut the first guy who ever drank milk. I wouldn't have to guts to do that, let alone what Baumgartner did. But I did jump off a 150' high bridge with only a Bungee cord wrapped around a towel on my ankles with no safety harness.

Once. Never again.

The density of the atmosphere at that altitude is a fraction of a percent of what it is at sea level - it's not vacuum, but it's more than close enough by the standards of anything that has "air" in one of the top positions on its "don't know how I could live without this" list.

Think of it as the difference between moving your hand quickly through water and moving your hand quickly through fog. There's much, much less pushing back in the latter, but both of those might as well be solid concrete compared to the air pressure at 120,000 feet. If there was an observer tagging along behind him, they might not even hear the boom or feel a shockwave, because there wouldn't be enough air hanging around to transmit sound or sensation.

A human breaking the sound barrier closer to sea level would have "closed casket service" on his to-do list afterwards. At that height doing so would involve breaking through something that was insubstantial in the first place.

Shared! Stolen! OMG!!!!

Just really happy we CAN be joking about this. After all, the guy DID have a successful landing that he didn't just walk but trotted away from! Broke records not bones!

Nevertheless, if I were a Red Bull merchandiser, I'd be envisioning those images on every Red Bull store display on the planet!

I want the rig that packs itself!

Shared!!!

I made my kids watch too...we were all glued to the computer!

You realize this is about as close to a 'moon-walk' moment my kids' generation will have?

This guy is the definition of balls of steel. Congratulations to him and the Red Bull Stratos team.

No kidding! Can you just imagine... Break records, not bones!

Glad you're here! We need you! 'Cause this thing isn't nailed down yet.





Now get to work.

that's really cool!

The fact that Little Joe helped him out through this whole thing just makes it that much cooler. I've been a JK fan for a long time. He's pretty sharp for being 84 years old.

When I was 16, JK was the only man who could match the X-15 pilots for cool. The only other guy who qualified for that level of macho was John Stapp. Not even the Mercury guys measured up in my eyes.

and Joe still holds the record for longest period of free fall

August, 1960!\\I never knew about Joe Kittinger until today............Amazing!

Back then he was wearing a AF high altitude pressure suit and his balloon gondola was basically a platform with a canvas curtain around it. One of his gloves failed to pressurize on the way up and his hand swelled to twice its normal size, but he soldiered on and completed the jump.

"Little Joe" Kittinger weighed all of 150 lb soaking wet...... of which 50 lbs was his balls!

His history.......jaw dropping!

He has the "Right Stuff" and then some.

If you like this kind of stuff it's a great read

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1557507325

But it doesn't look like he broke the barrier. The average speed of sound is 767 mph.

The speed of sound gets lower as altitude increases

I'll bet this is what they had in mind the entire time.

(Still awesome though, even if I can't stand really ostentatious "sponsorship" like that.)

In every Red Bull store display on the planet! Probably could get a few more stores that way too...

He jumped for the corporations. I totally agree that should never have been commercially sponsored.

it's already been done. The latest 'Star Trek' movie. Long way to fall. Kudos!

If Baumgartner jumped from a higher height than Kittinger, then why didn't he also set a record for longest free fall?

I watched the jump and believe I heard he set new records for height and speed, but not longest free fall. Did he have to open his 'chute earlier due to the speed?

not sure what altitude he popped his chute at, but the reason he might have had a shorter elapsed free fall time is that he had a lot higher initial speed toward the top of the jump and it carried on down allowing him to cover the distance faster.

Thanks

so Joe Kittinger could retain one of the records. If so, that is pretty classy.

Spending thirty seconds getting beaten up by your own helmet's gotta be disorienting somewhat.

Kittinger wasn't really in freefall, he was in drougefall (like a tandem skydive). Felix was falling faster, especially at teh beginning, so freefall time was less even though the distance was greater.

Also, Kittenger was under canopy @ 15K' and used and automatic opener. Felix had a good canopy @ ~6K and didn't need the Cypres

I didn't know this!

it was wonderful and absolutely great that they had Kittinger be the sole person Baumgartner spoke with.

Great achievement well done all!

I can barely withstand a rollercoaster.

I made 6 jumps before I decided to stop before I broke something. I had a few bad times in the air, mainly when I landed. I was dragged by the chute through rocks when the wind caught it, got lost in the air and couldn't find the drop zone and landed on my butt quite often.

That is beyond impressive.

Did he discover a cure for some disease, or how to repair our failing ozone layer and reverse global climate change, or end world hunger, or bring back vital, previously unknown scientific knowledge? Does he have anything, anything at all, to show for having intentionally placed himself in an environment utterly hostile to life?

Lots of materials data. His suit stood up to it. His body stood up to it. Might re-imagine possible escape scenarios for future human space travel.

The shuttles did not have an escape opportunity....

This was fantastic. Until today...I never knew anything about the great Kittinger either.

And other safety features for astronauts. The medical director for this project lost his wife in the 2003 Space Shuttle disaster.

Thanks!

Aren't there kids you need to be chasing off your lawn?

As he might well have? Would his death have been equally "fun and amazing"? You are quite right: life is amazing. Which is why it is a gift not to be squandered recklessly.

However, as others have pointed out, there was greater benefit to this endeavour than merely to provide you with fun and amusing sport and that's great, I'm glad that the risks he took were meaningful. It would have been a tragic waste had he died and accomplished no greater purpose than to give you a cheap thrill.

For the last year or so I've been watching my mom waste away in a nursing home. She can't hear, can barely see, has been paralyzed from a stroke for 17 years and is suffering from severe dementia. She refuses to eat and is slowly starving herself to death.

After watching this for the last year, I've developed a different point of view on death and dying. If he had died in the attempt today, sure, it would have been tragic, but it could have been a lot worse.

Given the choice I'd much rather die like that than the way mom is going

I ride motorcycles, I've always thought that would be as good of a way to go as any

I've watched loved ones die slowly from terminal illnesses and I agree with you that there are far better ways of going.

It's been rough but we are getting through it one day at a time

If they have a socially useful purpose, such as raising money for charity or for scientific/medical research purposes.

So they are generally framed that way, even though that is sometimes a stretch.

Hey, no tax dollars were spent so I don't understand the whining at ALL.

They weren't risking their lives in pursuit of an adrenaline rush. Happily, as others here have been gracious enough to inform me, this guy, too, had a greater purpose than mere sensationalism.

...assuming we ever get another craft like the shuttle.

For his headstone and no doubt a great comfort to his family and friends had he died. But, yet again, I'm told that his venture did achieve something more than being just "fucking awesome," whatever that means.

I certainly understand those who are confused by humanities' attempt to push itself beyond its self-defined and self-imposed limits, regardless of a lack of any practical application.

Exactly

blowing away the old record by an order of magnitude.

That certainly has some scientific and commercial value.

We can use a few of them for our entertainment..

Maybe you could jump the Grand Canyon and put your attempt on pay per view. It'd be fucking awesome.

Have to run that by the wife though before our trip

Luckily I don't have to volunteer because there are plenty of folks out there willing to do crazy/stupid/death defying/darwin award type stunts anyway. Just spend a little time on YouTube. And those are the ones TV producers don't even bother with LOL

But the question I asked was not why some people risk their lives for fun, or even why Baumgartner chose to risk his life in this endeavor, but why we should care. And that question has now been answered.

With data from a new instrument developed by scientists at the University of Calgary, scientists confirmed that space begins 73 miles (118 kilometers) above Earth's surface.

The United States, however, has never officially adopted a set boundary standard because it would complicate the issue of overflight rights of satellites and other orbiting bodies, according to NASA.

Reference Link:
http://www.space.com/6564-edge-space.html


When I took "Orbital Mechanics" in college, the instructor claimed that the "Edge of the Sensible Atmosphere" was 400,000 ft (75.75 statute miles).

i don't even like to climb stairs...

Kittinger's contributions were clearly indispensable throughout the whole thing.

Cool!

someone will attempt the first space jump, more than likely from the ISS.

That's a high distance!