https://www.youtube.com/embed/vkJ5ItzEq3MWatch the jump live above.
team leaders say there is a this morning that Austrian stuntman Felix Baumgartner will lift off in a capsule carried by a 55-story-high, lightweight plastic balloon and rise 23 miles above the earth's surface so that he can jump. If everything goes according to plan, he will rocket down at speeds of , breaking the sound barrier in his custom-designed jumpsuit while shattering the record for the fastest ever freefall by a human before deploying a about a mile above the earth and floating to the ground. The current skydive record is held by Joe Kittinger, who traveled 19 miles above the earth in 1960 and jumped before reaching speeds estimated to be 614 miles per hour. “From the beginning of mankind, the boys want to go higher, faster,
lower,” Kittinger said in . “It’s a fascinating part of human nature. We’re never
satisfied with the status quo.”
Things can go wrong, as Kittinger knows. During a training jump in 1959, , but his chute deployed automatically. Nobody knows during Baumgartner's jump. For now, the Austrian waits for calm. Roughly 700 feet above the ground at his New Mexico launch site, the winds are blowing at . His team needs them to about three miles per hour so that his balloon, which is , can rise safely. After delays, the team has now moved the launch time to .
If the jump happens, you can watch it live in the video above. If you want to get a better sense of how this will work out if everything goes according to plan, watch the below video from Red Bull. To learn more about Felix Baumgartner and how he's handling the possibilities of those things that could go wrong, read the collected stories below.
The Supersonic Man, Mary Roach, ϳԹ
“Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner plans to jump out of a
balloon gondola 23 miles above the earth, breaking the altitude record
for skydiving and becoming the first free-falling human to reach the
speed of sound. Dangerous? Only if his parachutes fail, he's killed by
shock waves, or he starts spinning so fast that his brain snaps loose
from its stem.”
, Luke Dittrich, Esquire
“From 120,000 feet, Felix Baumgartner will step from a sealed capsule and
drop 23 miles. In 35 seconds, he will become the first human to
free-fall through the sound barrier. What happens after that, nobody
knows….”
, Charlie Burton, GQ
“Nobody, not even NASA, knows what will happen when Felix
Baumgartner breaks the sound barrier.”
, John Tierney, The New York Times
“Whatever the leap means for mankind, it should definitely be one giant step for a man.”
Beth Carter, Wired
“Baumgartner’s composite helmet, which weighs 8 pounds, attaches to
the suit with a rotating, locking ring, as do his gloves. The visor is
fitted with a retractable sunshade and an integrated heating circuit to
prevent fogging, as the air temperature will be about -70 Fahrenheit
when he steps from the capsule. Opening the visor requires two separate,
independent movements, a redundant system designed to prevent
Baumgartner from accidentally opening the visor and depressurizing his
suit. Then, of course, there’s the issue of breathing. The helmet is
equipped with an oxygen regulator that will provide Baumgartner with 100
percent oxygen from the capsule’s liquefied oxygen system during his
ascent and a pair of gaseous oxygen tanks during his dive. A drinking
port will help him satisfy the other vital need of hydration.”
, Associated Press
“Plans for extreme athlete and skydiver
Felix Baumgartner to make a death-defying, 23-mile free fall into the
southeastern New Mexico desert were on hold Tuesday morning due to
winds, but his team was still hoping the weather would clear after
sunrise in time to make the jump.”
—Joe Spring