Felix Baumgartner

[red]

for me, being terrified of heights and all, anything over 10 feet off the ground seems the same to me. but i wonder if jumping from 130,000 is that much scarier then jumping from like 20,000 to him

[red]

here we go

[Patler]

Safe and sound on earth!

[MJZiggy]

I am SO glad I'm not his mother. I'd have puked when he stepped out of the door.

[MJZiggy]

And I'm incredibly glad that if my kid were involved, he would be in mission control or doing some math calculation or other. I love my boy!

[Patler]

This guy is nuts. And this must have cost an incredible fortune.

The guy who was really "nuts" for his time was was Kettinger, who jumped from 102,300 feet in 1960. He went up in an open gondola, not a capsule like Baumgartner, and Kettinger wore a primitive pressure suit that looked like coveralls. This was a year before Shepard's first US space flight, so you can imagine the primitive technology used by Kettinger. He did it while we were learning how to survive at those altitudes.

[red]

The guy who was really "nuts" for his time was was Kettinger, who jumped from 102,300 feet in 1960. He went up in an open gondola, not a capsule like Baumgartner, and Kettinger wore a primitive pressure suit that looked like coveralls. This was a year before Shepard's first US space flight, so you can imagine the primitive technology used by Kettinger. He did it while we were learning how to survive at those altitudes.

that seems more like something you would force war prisoners to do

[Patler]

And I'm incredibly glad that if my kid were involved, he would be in mission control or doing some math calculation or other. I love my boy!

A lot of the astronauts are top level scientists too. The early ones were the test pilot/daredevil types, but scientists have taken over. There is hope for your kid yet!

[HowardRoark]

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jesus, it looks like he's just wearing a bomber jacket, and hunting boots with duck tape around the pants

[Patler]

From Wikipedia:

Kittinger's first high-altitude jump, from about 76,400 feet (23,300 m) on November 16, 1959, was a near-disaster when an equipment malfunction caused him to lose consciousness. The automatic parachute opener in his equipment saved his life. He went into a flat spin at a rotational velocity of about 120 rpm. The g-forces at his extremities have been calculated to be over 22 times the force of gravity, setting another record.

So what did he do after that near disaster? He tried it again less than a month later! Then, 8 months after that he went up to 102,000 feet and did it again!

[Patler]

jesus, it looks like he's just wearing a bomber jacket, and hunting boots with duck tape around the pants

Ya, Baumgartner doesn't look so impressive now, does he?

[HowardRoark]

it also looks as though part of his fall was through the clouds. I end up in the co-pilot seat of a small aircraft quite a bit, and the time in the clouds is a little eerie, can't imagine falling through them. Although my guess is that the picture might be deceiving.

[MJZiggy]

that seems more like something you would force war prisoners to do

Or Michael Vick.

[red]

all i have to say is, if that was me, there would have been a distinctive brown trail behind me as i was free falling