Another attempt at the skydiving record...
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EdFred
Taxi to Parking
First you would need to be orbiting the earth before that ever became a concern, and then you would be in orbit, not floating.
rottydaddy
En-Route
That's true, but because of the negligible air density up there, there will be no transsonic effects; not really "breaking the sound barrier", as many articles have claimed. You could go 1,000 mph in near-vacuum and not really be "breaking" any "barrier".
When Kittinger made his jump from 102,000 feet, he exceeded 600 mph, but had no sensation of falling at any speed, even at his fastest velocity, except for glimpses of the balloon seeming to rocket into the sky above him. I'll bet the ground didn't seem any closer for quite some time... that's a looong way up.
Must be surreal... and what a view from up there!
Geico266
Touchdown! Greaser!
I should know this, but when do you need to be concerned about friction and burning up? Or is that a function of trajectory and speed?
EdFred
Taxi to Parking
Yeah. Keep in mind the shuttle or any other reentry vehicle or meteor/ite/oid is hitting the atmosphere at miles per second. Even 600 mph is only 1/6th of a mile per second. Plus he's starting from rest and as he falls he'll slow down as the atmosphere thickens.
Geico266
Touchdown! Greaser!
EdFred
Taxi to Parking
You have to admit, that is one hell of a first step.
I would do it without thinking twice.
ClimbnSink
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Greg
Go Felix.
AdamZ
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Adam Zucker
I wonder how long it will take the balloon to ascend to that altitude and what will happen to the balloon and capsule once he jumps out.
wby0nder
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Kittinger talked about breaking his own record by being lofted by a rocket and falling back into the atmosphere. It wasn't actually about breaking records, it was about figuring out astronaut egress and rescue. If not at orbital velocity, a falling return into the atmosphere should be survivable up to a point. Apparently, even if falling straight down you can get going too fast. I'm not sure if it's the heating or the deceleration that would kill you when you hit the atmosphere. That is, provided the cold and the vacuum of space doesn't kill you first.
NelsonMinar
Filing Flight Plan
If you've never seen the footage of that 100,000 foot skydive, it's remarkable. You can see an edited version in the Boards of Canada Dayvan Cowboy video.
wby0nder
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Just FYI, Kittinger didn't end up in the water. That is an artistically edited "falling from the sky" vid with Kittingers space jump at the beginning. Very cool.
A related amazing story is that of Nick Piantanida. He died trying to break Kittingers record. Prior to his death he did reach a higher altitude but had to ride the gondola down in free fall when he couldn't detach due to frozen connections. The book Magnificent Failure tells his story and is one of those riveting adventure tragedies you can't put down.
ClimbnSink
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About ten years ago there were 3 or 4 folks all angling to raise money and break Kittingers record. Problem was no one could get a spacesuit. David Clark apparently doesn't sell them to just anyone and I guess the Russian stuff was junk/unsuitable for some reason.
wby0nder
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ClimbnSink
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Yup. Of course those guys are on official NASA glider flying business.
wby0nder
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A person could put themselves into a refurbished surplus partial pressure suit for under a couple thousand bucks. Kittinger used a partial suit for his high flight and jump. A couple people tried it in the 60s and 70s for glider altitude record attempts but never got high enough to need them.
Still, the possibility exists to go high for cheap with a partial suit and a glider. It would really be something to survive and beat the gazillionairs.
Still, the possibility exists to go high for cheap with a partial suit and a glider. It would really be something to survive and beat the gazillionairs.
flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
You got it. The Russian stuff is junk. The American spacesuits have all the guts in a backpack - The Russian suit has it on the front, so when (not if) it breaks, they have a fighting chance to fix it before they die.
