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A tale of the man with the biggest set of brass balls in human history
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| VERTiG0 |
...or, how to break the sound barrier without an aircraft.
On August 16, 1960, Joe Kittinger was strapped into an specially modified U.S. Air Force balloon and set off on an ascent into the clouds. After 4 hours he reached the edge of space at a record breaking attitude of 102,800 feet (approx 20 miles above land). At that height he was basically in outerspace with very little atmosphere and an outside temperature at 100 degrees below zero.
Then Joe did something that showed he had the biggest balls on the planet....he jumped out.
Joe was in freefall for over 4 minutes and hit a top speed of over 700 miles per hour. Lucky for us he brought a film camera. The scariest part is that for much of the time he was falling, he was unable to even tell that he was falling. The air up there is so thin, there's no noise, no sensation of speed. He had to look upward at the rapidly disappearing balloon to reassure himself he was actually moving.
There's a brief interview with him about the jump here
http://www.elchineroconcepts.com/Joe%20Kittinger.htm
Boards of Canada used some of the footage that Joe and the balloon camera shot in their video for "Dayvan Cowboy." You can see it here.
http://212.78.76.244/dayvancowboy/boc-dayvancowboy.wmv
Short documentary footage here...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=P_9QHBMJdrI
Later in the 60s, Joe flew 483 combat missions in Vietnam and spent 11 months as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton.
He's still alive at age 78 and lives in the Orlando area.
But seriously, can you fathom this ? Apparently the heating equipment in his right glove failed but he toughed it out for fear of not being able to do the jump again. Also - what would be going through your mind? Basically you're jumping from OUTER GODDAMN SPACE straight down to earth. There's no turning back, it's either you jump, or your die of oxygen deprivation out in space.
Maximum cojones award to this man.
For those of you still reading, here's your obligatory Monty Python bit:
| quote: | "Right we want you to go up to space using this balloon."
'Okay.'
"And we'll have you do all sorts of tests when you're up there."
'How do I get back down?'
"Oh that's the easy bit, you jump!"
'... off.'
"No really, you'll have this new type of parachute, you see."
'Oh, any good, is it?'
"We don't know, you'll be testing it for us. Okay?"
'Right-'O old chap!' |
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| Halycon |
jesus thats insane
respect to that guy |
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| Billche |
| hats off to this guy. 700 mile an hour freefall? jesus |
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| adi26 |
| Wow!! What a rush it would have been for this guy... |
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| rabbitjoker |
That is nothing.
Some Aussie jumped out in sub-orbit over and went over 1800 mph!
| quote: |
Australian to Jump from 130,000 ft
Posted Sunday, March 11, 2001
An Australian parachutist is planning to jump out of a balloon floating nearly 40 kilometres above the Earth's surface. Rodd Millner expects to reach speeds of between 1,600 and 1,800 kilometres (994-1,118 miles) per hour during his descent. If he pulls it off, he will become only the second man to break the sound barrier by merely falling through the air
Millner, who will begin his ascent just outside Alice Springs, will have to wear a special pressure suit to survive the cold and lack of oxygen at high altitude. The chute itself will have to be much bigger than usual to cope with the extra load being carried.
'Safe and alive'
"Well, I believe with all the research that it's safe, but really no-one's ever been this fast before in this environment," the former army reservist and night-club bouncer said.
"Ultimately, we don't know but research suggests it will be a stable and safe fall and my decision to do this is based on the fact that I want to come back safe and alive."
Joe Kittinger Junior holds the current world-record high-altitude skydiving record. He leapt from a balloon that was 31,341 metres (102,800 feet) above the Earth in August, 1960.
Kittinger reached a speed of 1,149 kilometres (714 miles) an hour during his freefall.
Competitive environment
Millner faces competition from elite skydiver Cheryl Stearns. The airline pilot has countless parachuting records to her name and has put together the StratoQuest project with the aim of making a 40 km jump next year.
Both Millner and Stearns are now acquiring the knowledge and developing the equipment that will safeguard their descent.
Millner said his fall would be slowed by the Earth's atmosphere so by the time he got down to about two kilometres he would be at or below normal parachute speeds.
"What I will be doing is that as I come closer to Earth the atmosphere will thicken and that will slow me down, so eventually I'll be getting to 5,000 ft (1,524 m), 10,000 ft (3,050 m), and I will be going my normal parachute speed, probably slower actually, and then I will be able to release my parachute as per normal and then land as in training," he explained.
Computer games
The jump may be a relaxing change for a man who teaches explosives and mine warfare to Australian army recruits.
Millner hopes to turn his plunge into a virtual computer game using film from cameras that will be fitted to his suit and the balloon.
"It's basically extreme science to see how far we can push it - this is going to change the face of a lot of things...including emergency procedures for people exploring space," Millner said.
Project Space Jump will be launched from Alice Springs in March 2002.
Although 40 km may sound high, it is still not regarded as space. Most experts mark that boundary as beginning somewhere between 80 and 100 km (50-62 miles). |
http://www.dropzone.com/news/Austra...pfrom1300.shtml |
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| Adamo |
| HOLY I WANNA DO THAT...THATS ING AWESOME !!!:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: |
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| [NFC]Wave |
| Wow... wow, wow. :eyes: |
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| joinT |
that is wicked. keep up the quality posts Cale, major bonus points for relevant MP quote.  |
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| VERTiG0 |
Actually RJ, Cheryl Stearns hasn't yet done it. Her last attempt was supposed to be in late '05, but was postponed due to financial constraints or something like that.
That Rodd Millner guy seems 'all talk,' as I cannot find anything about him actually doing it. |
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| adi26 |
I have decided - I am going sky diving sometime this summer. :crazy:
Thats the closest I can get to these feats... |
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| Jem_hadar |
| Thats so ing insane! I love it! WOWOW |
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