Jump from 120,000 feet

[BrowningBAR]

Launching now.
http://www.redbullstratos.com/live/

 

[BrowningBAR]

And, it's been postponed.

 

[ironpony]

he must of looked down.........
never look down

 

[jharkin]

WOW. Thanks for the heads up... definitely going to follow this.

 

[Jack Straw]

If it ever does happen JDC1 may find another pile of sheeit on his wood pile .

 

[Delta-T]

Pop Sci had a write up about this thing a few months ago....thats some crazy bidness. Him gonna break the speed of sound....falling. I bet for at least a few minutes he can sense no change in his relationship to the earth....like weightlessness only faster.

 

[firefighterjake]

I think I heard they were shooting for another go at this
on Thursday.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I think I heard they were shooting for another go at this
on Thursday.

Looking forward to it. They seem to need a perfectly calm day to keep the balloon stable.

 

[ironpony]

chickened out again, maybe this weekend

 

[ScotO]

Did I read that right? The said the balloon, when inflated, is 850 feet tall??? And they said he'd be hitting 700-some mph at the first stages of the fall???

Makes me want to go out and kiss the ground right now!!

 

[Jags]

I think the term "Batshitcrazy" can appropriately be used here.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Did I read that right? The said the balloon, when inflated, is 850 feet tall??? And they said he'd be hitting 700-some mph at the first stages of the fall???

Makes me want to go out and kiss the ground right now!!

Yes, he will break the sound barrier while free falling. Which is amazing. I can't even imagine how that would feel.

 

[Delta-T]

we can try asking that guy who ejected from the SR-71 back in the day how it feels....I think he'd be the only other guy to be floating around without a vehicle at that speed...IIRC he was going +3 Mach when he ejected.....thats kinda fast. I'm afraid for this Baumgartner fellow...there's a lot that can go wrong for him....not only is it "batshitcrazy"....its kinda nuts too.

 

[PapaDave]

I wonder if he'll create that "halo" behind himself like the jets that break the sound barrier?

 

[Jags]

That only happens when you are at the edge of supersonic. Once past the rings goes away.

 

[fossil]

That's vapor...essentially a cloud. It's formed by the pressure wave created by the aircraft as it's reaching/exceeding Mach 1. The aircraft soon leaves that pressure wave behind...and the vapor cloud quickly disperses. The aural manifestation of that phenomenon is the sonic boom we hear. Just as Jags said, that vapor cloud is visible only briefly. Rick

ETA: From where this guy's jumping, the air density is so low, and there is so little water vapor present, I highly doubt he'll make his own little cloud as he exceeds Mach 1.

 

[Jags]

Rick - were you on board the Ranger when we did the airshow for the King of Oman? Quite impressive.

 

[fossil]

Rick - were you on board the Ranger when we did the airshow for the King of Oman? Quite impressive.

Bunch of airshows on both carriers for various reasons/dignitaries...not something I could ever get bored with.

 

[hilly]

Here's a vid of it being done fifty years ago!

 

[Jags]

Bunch of airshows on both carriers for various reasons/dignitaries...not something I could ever get bored with.

In that air show, it was my bird that created the two sonic booms (speed of sound x 2).

 

[hossthehermit]

Baloon being inflated now, they say should be ready to go in a couple more hours...........

 

[BrotherBart]

Live feed here.

 

[hossthehermit]

Sooner than I thought .............. wow, cold out there

 

[BrowningBAR]

Forgot about it today. Checked back just in time.

 

[letsblaze]

Live on discovery.