baumgartners jump from edge of space

[pamindfw]

I missed the live viewing, and found this link of the replay:


http://www.eitb.com/es/videos/detalle/969091/video-salto-felix-baumgartner--salto-libre-baumgartner/

Maybe I should have put this in chatter.  move it if you like.

[jetson]

It was very well executed.  I watched it live on the internet.  One odd thing was that he missed breaking the free fall record by mere seconds because he pulled the chute too early.  But it seemed like he had so much more time.  I'm no parachuter - but that seemed like an unfortunate mistake.

He did get two records though.  Highest manned ballon flight, and highest human parachute jump - i think it was just under 128K feet.

[pamindfw]

Did you hear a discussion about whether he surpassed the sound barrier, and if not did pulling the chute too early contribute?

His ground landing was beautiful. 

I've jumped once, and this whole thing is fascinating to me.

[jetson]

Did you hear a discussion about whether he surpassed the sound barrier, and if not did pulling the chute too early contribute?

His ground landing was beautiful. 

I've jumped once, and this whole thing is fascinating to me.

The official data on the sound barrier had not been released.  It should be available online by now, I would think?  Unofficially, he surpassed 700mph, I believe.

[Garja]

Still unofficial on sound barrier. The breaking that or not did not seem to be impacted by parachute. Looked like he was already slowing down due to hitting the earths atmosphere. But yeah. No idea if HE pulled the cord or if it was automated for some condition. But yeah. Only missed it by like 5-10 seconds and he we still thousands of feet in the air so no clue why the chute was pulled.

[on:bread:alone]

balls like the rock of gibraltar, that one.

[Irish]

I watched it live on the Discovery Channel and it was awesome.  It was pretty nerve-wracking when he went into that flat spin.  If I remember correctly the speed he reached was an unofficial 729 mph.

[Nam]

Exciting to watch but I'd never do it.

-Nam

[Nick]

I don't evn like bumper cars.

[Graybeard]

The question of the sound-barrier is moot - he probably went faster than sound at sea-level, but, as he started about 39Km above the earth, far faster than sound in thin atmosphere.

[hickdive]

Interesting chart but it omits the moronosphere; that layer of the atmosphere found between any flat surface people can stand on and an altitude of around six feet.

[Emily]

So the borehole in Russia (or wherever it is) is deeper than the deepest point of the ocean? That's pretty fucking cool. I never really thought about those two deep points together.

EDIT: So, I watched the video and when he jumped I seriously yelled so loud my husband had to come upstairs because he was thinking I was having an heart attack or something. That was an amazing video, with and amazing view of Earth.