Jump!

[Bibs]

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

45 mins to go!

[Bibs]

[molemot]

I see one of the advisers is the present record holder, Col. Kittinger USAF (rtd.)...he managed 600+ mph back in 1960...

[Bibs]

He had huge balls. Todays jump is a walk in the park by comparison, IMO.

[ramjet]

So what does the wind chill work out to that high up and at that sort of speed?

[Bazza 907]

"He had huge balls"

He'd have gone even faster without them..

[Bibs]

Newton would be ashamed of you...

[Bibs]

3...2...1...bungee....!

[Jbee]

It's impressive, but Kittingers jump will always be one of the boldest things any human has done. The video of his jump along with his commentary is inspirational.

[Iconic Ride]

Can't imagine the "head games" he must be enduring with yet another postponement. And this after full suit up, 1.5 hours of pre-breathing, and just short of release.

...the schedule he follows each day before a scheduled jump:

Launch Minus 24 Hours: Baumgartner starts the day before the jump with a light cardio-based workout, mostly to “relax and loosen up,” according to Red Bull High Performance Director Andy Walshe.

Minus 18h30: The 43-year-old Austrian returns to his hotel to rest up. If he’s not ready to nap, Baumgartner can pass the time talking with his close friends and family, reading messages of support that have been pouring in from around the globe, drawing in his sketchbook – a pastime that he says helps to clear his mind – or mentally reviewing his checklists for the mission.

Minus 13h30: Baumgartner joins members of the crew for a light early dinner, but the food on his plate will be unique. For at least 24 hours before his jump, he must stick to a low-fiber diet prescribed by the mission’s medical team. It is vital for him to eat only foods that will clear his system quickly, without leaving residue that could create gas: a condition that can cause problems in the low-pressure of the stratosphere because it can expand in the body and cause serious discomfort.


Minus 12h00: Baumgartner attempts to get to sleep early – before the sun has even set. He’ll try to eliminate every glimmer of outside light and shut out the noise of circulation fans or other guests in the halls. It is essential that he try to get some sleep before his pre-dawn wake-up call, even though he will certainly be wondering what he’ll experience in his attempt to become the first person to break the speed of sound in freefall.

Minus 4h30: “When I need to ready, I’m always ready,” Baumgartner often says. And while he tries to sleep as long as possible, he’ll need to rise four to five hours before dawn to be ready for the intense day ahead.

Minus 3h30: Baumgartner arrives at the launch site, accompanied by Walshe. Mission team leaders including Col. Joe Kittinger, Technical Project Director Art Thompson, and Meteorologist Don Day will provide a personal briefing on the launch preparations so far, which have been underway for five hours.

Minus 3h00: Baumgartner heads to the runway where, as is habitual for the experienced pilot before every flight, he will conduct a meticulous inspection of the capsule.

Minus 2h30: In Baumgartner’s personal trailer, he undergoes a final medical check, and a compact, state-of-the-art physiological monitoring system will be strapped to his chest to be worn under his pressure suit throughout the mission.

Minus 2h00: Life Support Engineer Mike Todd dresses Baumgartner in his suit, a painstaking process.

Minus 1h30: The Austrian will be inserted into the capsule and ‘pre-breathe’ oxygen for two hours to eliminate nitrogen from his bloodstream, which could expand dangerously at altitude.

Minus 1h00: Baumgartner will be strapped into his capsule chair to conduct final instrument checks as directed by Mission Control.

Minus 0h30: Then Capsule Engineer Jon Wells will seal the clear acrylic door. After several minutes of anticipation, the final countdown will begin and Baumgartner will be cleared to lift off.

[ramjet]

Does the capsule return? Does he set some sort of timer which begins the balloon deflating and primes a chute for it as well?

[yeller77]

I don't find the part where it says "Baumgartner chugs a Red Bull before slamming the visor home..."

[Iconic Ride]

Lemme see. Chug Red Bull, sit for 2 hours pre-breathing, ascend to 120,000 ft for 3 more hours,,,,,,,,

"Guys? I gotta' pee. Really badly. Like, right now. Yes, Colonel, I know that's not a good idea. Nappies? What nappies?"

[fmxa]

I doubt Kittinger went through all this rigmarole on his jump, I picture him more likely smoking a Marlboro and flicking the butt out the basked on his way up!

[Guest surferphil]

Why don't they use this to go into space, seems a lot cheaper than all that rocket booster NASA shuttle stuff, you wouldn't need Cape Kennedy or Canaveral, just land in the park next to Pret' for a coffee and mozzarella sandwich when you return.

Bring back the rocket pack!

Air balloons look cool when painted like spaceships too.

[Vulcan Grey]

Kittinger had a pin hole in his glove causing him a lot of pain and a large Mickey Mouse hand

[Moxie]

I remember the first time I saw this photo in a NASA book as a kid and thought that orange box must have been designed to hold his balls of steel.

Question: what altitude do you need to be at for a geosync'd orbit, and could this pave the way for emergency re-entry from such a platform?

[Iconic Ride]

22,000 miles last I checked. The ISS orbits at about 200 miles. Felix is jumping from circa 23 miles, so not much of a comparison to be made with regard to re-entry procedures. It's his pressure suit itself that seems to be the focal point of garnering any useful astronaut future mission safety data.

And if you're suggesting that you stay with some form of "escape capsule" until reaching 20 miles or so, you're still likely to be traveling at close to 17,000 mph (orbital velocity of the ISS) for much of the descent. Don't know what the actual figure at the 20 miles point is, but it would probably prohibit "bailing out" for the free fall portion. Remember the video of the Columbia shuttle debris? As you know, one of Baumgartner's ground crew's wife was on board. Hence the interest in suit survivability factors.

Here's an unusual view (of one of the previous test jumps?...or an artistic rendition?...can't be sure)

[Guest surferphil]

Question: what altitude do you need to be at for a geosync'd orbit, and could this pave the way for emergency re-entry from such a platform?

I suppose this is the same as Geostationary orbit, that means 0G? Surely this would change depending on which latitude you would be sitting over as the further from the equator you are the less the earth spins?

[molemot]

Geostationary orbits have to be over the equator. Any orbit has to have the centre of mass of the earth as it's centre...otherwise it's not an orbit, it's a trajectory and things will end badly! That's why satellite dishes point south from northern latitudes...and if you get far enough north, the geostationary satellites can disappear from view. Zero G is a state of free fall...a satellite in any orbit is continually falling towards the centre of the earth, but the forward speed means that the ground curves away from it before it biffs into the hard bit.

[Iconic Ride]

Red Bull Stratos Felix Baumgartner space jump set for Sunday

Updated at 07:53 AM today

In this photo provided by Red Bull Stratos, Felix Baumgartner makes a 25,000-foot high test jump for Red Bull Stratos. ((AP Photo/Red Bull Stratos, Luke Aikins))

October 11, 2012 (ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) -- Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner hopes to make a second attempt to become the world's first supersonic skydiver with a 23-mile free fall over New Mexico on Sunday or Monday.

[Guest surferphil]

Geostationary orbits have to be over the equator. Any orbit has to have the centre of mass of the earth as it's centre...otherwise it's not an orbit, it's a trajectory and things will end badly! That's why satellite dishes point south from northern latitudes...and if you get far enough north, the geostationary satellites can disappear from view. Zero G is a state of free fall...a satellite in any orbit is continually falling towards the centre of the earth, but the forward speed means that the ground curves away from it before it biffs into the hard bit.

That makes sense but the 0G is a state of free fall? How can it fall if there is 0G?

[Bibs]

G forces are the forces sustained by something. If he's falling at 1G for example and moving in an orbit which is moving him away from the planet at a vectored 1G, he'll not fall nor rise (hence orbit) and the net effect will be OG.

An analogy is a helicopter will hover and experience OG of vertical movement as the lift equals the weight. In this case, the gravational pull is negated by the horizontal movement over the planet as it falls away beneath him.

[Iconic Ride]

Orbital debris...each dot is "falling" to earth, but also moving parallel to its surface fast enough to generate a trajectory away from it that exactly matches its gravitational "tug" towards it. Earth orbit is not true zero G, it only approximates it.

Ha! As usual the Bibster has beaten me to the punch.

GEO Polar images

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The GEO Polar images are generated from a vantage point above the north pole, showing the concentrations of objects in LEO and in the geosynchronous region.

And if you're really into this kinda' stuff, have a look at this. Fair warning, it's a medium long download (~40MB)

http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/photogallery/beehives/Debris_in_motion.mpg

Not recommended viewing for ISS inhabitants looking to get a good night's rest.

Edited October 11, 2012 by Iconic Ride

[Guest surferphil]

No, G is a measure of Gravitational force, not a measure of movement. The Helicopter still has 1G of force acting upon it regardless of it's ability to hover. The down force from the rotor blades is equivalent to the pull of gravity in the opposite direction so therefore it has 2 equal and opposite forces acting upon it but only 1 of them is a gravitational force so the 1G remains.

Forward motion it's self does not counter act the gravitational force, I think that is a myth and a very poor method of explaining it used for many decades.

I believe that there are 2 forces acting against each other equally, a gravitational force and a centrifugal force.