felix baumgartner...

[MK-84]

...broke the sound barrier in a free fall.

I am curious about what happened after he transitioned from supersonic to subsonic.  I think I understand the concept of going supersonic, less atmosphere, but when the atmosphere gets more dense, then what?  He is hardly aerodynamic, so wouldn't he have felt/noticed a change?  I did see him cartwheeling like crazy on the infrared cameras after he had gone subsonic, was that a product or the transition, or that he couldn't see?  (his visor was fogged up, he apparently couldn't see for part of the trip down)

[Soulyss]

My layman's understanding was the tumble was caused by a lack of atmosphere, he just couldn't control himself till I got to a lower altitude.  But I could very much be wrong.

[Krusty]

The air gets denser slowly and evenly as he descends, so much like a P-38 in a nose down dive, you'll just gradually slow down as you hit the denser air.

I am curious about the moment he broke mach 1, though, and if he felt a shockwave or what.

[MK-84]

The air gets denser slowly and evenly as he descends, so much like a P-38 in a nose down dive, you'll just gradually slow down as you hit the denser air.

I am curious about the moment he broke mach 1, though, and if he felt a shockwave or what.

Yeah me too.  I wonder in such a thin atmosphere it's even noticeable?

[Old Sport]

Seems to me that a small system of compressed-air jets at various points on the spacesuit and a small computer might have been able to stabilize the fall    

Maybe next time for the 150,000 foot dive !!!  

[save]

Maybe next time for the 150,000 foot dive !!!  

He will have a big chance to collide with some AH ponies up there 

[Reaper90]

the real brave Felix was the one that went 2nd.... without that fancy-dancy space suit....






















































 

[RicOShay]

It was due to a scarcity of air molecules that high up. Chuck Yeager had the same problem when he took the rocket assisted NF-104A to over 102,000 feet asl back in 1963. When the rocket burned out he arched over in a parabolic arc and he had peroxide jet nozzles on the nose of the jet to force the nose downward. The planes normal control surfaces were totally ineffective at that altitude. He had to come down with the nose down to eventually force air into the engine so he could restart it. The peroxide jets failed to operate and instead he came down in a flat spin and totally out of control. At some point he deployed the drouge chute in the tail and this put the nose of the plane straight down. When he release the chute the plane immediately went back into a flat spin. At just 5000 feet he bailed out. The rocket ejection seat sent him clear but a piece of burning propellent from the seat burned a hole in his visor (he was wearing a pressure suit) and the 100% oxygen in the suit caught fire burning him severely. The NF-104A continue to flat spin into the ground at a leisure 200 mph.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_NF-104A

[W7LPNRICK]

Skydivers use their hands & legs as control surfaces & without air density those surfaces have very little effect...while tumbling out of control he probably felt very little turbulence until the air density increased....probably like free floating in space with little awareness of speed or falling at first...IMO I thought a drogue chute might have helped him stabilize earlier. There is a risk of getting wrapped up in the tether. Similar "Pilot Chutes" are used to either extract the main chute or to stabilize the skydiver during free-fall training.
http://images.bidorbuy.co.za/user_images/549/984549_110625200038_Ejector_Seat_Drogue_Chute.JPG 

[BaldEagl]

David Letterman tonight:

Daredevil names then and now...

Evil Knievel...

Felix Baumgartner.

 

[W7LPNRICK]

Knievel was a wimp comparitively...

[kvuo75]

I'm one of apparently very few who doesn't get what's really so impressive about this guy jumping from a balloon at 120k

I'm completely more impressed with actual astronauts.  there are several onboard the ISS right now, about 1.1 million feet alt, doing 17000+ mph.

people dead from high altitude balloon skydiving?

people dead from orbital flights?

who's got the balls again?



oh btw this guy "jumped" from the space shuttle in 1984, in orbit, and hence was in freefall doing the 17000mph, 350km alt



oh he's actually in space as well

[titanic3]

Kvuo75 for the 150,000ft jump!

Cmon, you can do it.

[Reaper90]

Kvuo75 for the 150,000ft jump!

Cmon, you can do it.

Kvou is just ticked that with a supersonic falling speed, even he couldn't hit Baumgartner with a field gun.....

[W7LPNRICK]

I'm one of apparently very few who doesn't get what's really so impressive about this guy jumping from a balloon at 120k

I'm completely more impressed with actual astronauts.  there are several onboard the ISS right now, about 1.1 million feet alt, doing 17000+ mph.

people dead from high altitude balloon skydiving?

people dead from orbital flights?

who's got the balls again?



oh btw this guy "jumped" from the space shuttle in 1984, in orbit, and hence was in freefall doing the 17000mph, 350km alt

(Image removed from quote.)

oh he's actually in space as well

Apples & oranges...IMO, I love astronauts but I can't see any of them wanting to EVA from orbit to a parachute, bu then again Felix ain't no Neal Armstrong either. I say let them enjoy the ride while it lasts.