Sports

Skydiver Seeks New Records With ‘Edge of Space’ Fall Reaching 690 MPH

Austrian Man Prepares for Record Breaking 23 Mile High Skydive

Felix Baumgartner (Photo: Red Bull)

A 42-year-old extreme skydiver is setting out to break four records — one of which has been in place for 50 years — with a jump from 23 miles up. To put this into perspective, the line between the edge of Earth’s atmosphere and space is technically at about 62 miles high.

Felix Baumgartner of Austria, who holds several records for skydiving already, is planning to dive out of a weather balloon because commercial planes won’t reach the 121,440-foot altitude on the “edge of space” that he seeks. The Daily Mail reports that Baugartner’s descent will take 10 minutes with a top speed of 690 miles per hour.

Austrian Man Prepares for Record Breaking 23 Mile High Skydive

(Photo: Felix Baumgartner)

Here are the records he hopes to break:

  • Highest altitude for a freefall — currently set in 1960 by U.S. Air Force Colonel Joe Kittinger at 102,800 feet
  • Highest manned balloon flight
  • Longest distance traveled in freefall — Baumgartner will deploy his parachute at less than 5,000 feet
  • Fastest freefall
Austrian Man Prepares for Record Breaking 23 Mile High Skydive

Details of Baumgartner's skydive. (Image: Daily Mail)

The Daily Mail reports that Baumgartner, whose endeavor is sponsored by Red Bull, already holds records for lowest parachute jump at 95 feet off Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro; highest jump from a building at 1,479 feet off Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur; and first to skydive across the English Channel.

Watch Baumgartner take the plunge off Christ the Redeemer:

Here Baumgartner skydives across the English Channel:

To prepare for the jump, according to the Daily Mail, Baumgartner will have two practice jumps at 60,000 feet and 90,000 feet wearing a special suit designed to help him withstand up to -70 degrees Celsius.

Comments (51)

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  • FreddyzDead
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:35pm

    Just seeing a 23 mile long schmidt stain would move me upwind 24 miles away from the landing zone. Brown stains on my glasses…

    Report Post »  
  • smokey888x2
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 4:47pm

    Isn’t the wearing of this suit a whole lot different than the original record. Why not try to beat the old record w/ the same conditions, first. You want a different record w/ an added suit, fine; but it’s like diving holding your breath naturally and diving w/ a new external breathing mechanism — not the same.

    Report Post » smokey888x2  
    • WRXXXGeof
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 6:55pm

      Kittinger had a suit on as well. You have to. I think this is the dumbest thing I’ve heard though. If he only has 20 minutes worth of oxygen, he’ll be dead before he even hits 80,000 feet. Not to mention, deploying a parachute at 5,000 feet when travelling ~700 MPH sounds like a recipe for disaster.

      Report Post »  
    • TPaine
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:10pm

      C’mon, guys…read the history records. Kittinger had a pressure suit on, with heat and oxygen, on his way up. So will this guy – he’ll have 20 minutes of supplemental oxygen once he leaves the gondola. Then, he’ll reach speeds faster than sound (just like Joe did) on the way down, but he won‘t be going 700 MPH when he deploys his ’chute at the lower altitude.

      Joe jumped from 102,800′, and had a drogue ‘chute to stabilize his descent, but this guy won’t, so that will be the only difference, other than the altitude. What he faces is an uncontrollable flat spin on the way down, which could possibly kill him through centrifugal force. The only thing I see here is an attempt to break an old altitude record, and it isn’t that impossible. It’s just expensive.

      Report Post » TPaine  
  • DefromDC
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 3:08pm

    I don’t think he has any idea of what he is getting into. The suit might make it possible. When, I talked with my friend Joe Kittinger about his jump, what he remembers most was the cold, the waiting and waiting for what seem forever, in spite of the speed. He felt he was lucky to survive. As I remember him talking he passed once or twice.

    Report Post » DefromDC  
    • Protoham
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 4:15pm

      This is not fair, he has a space suit on. It does not count!

      Report Post »  
  • PureDrumFury
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 2:14pm

    Chunky tomato soup, anyone?

    Report Post »  
  • TPartyXpress
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 1:58pm

    Can’t wait to see the wet spot. :-)

    Report Post » TPartyXpress  
  • Spotlight44
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 12:30pm

    Kittenger was a real research guy and Military stalwart who led the way in developing pressure suits that were used and improved by the astronauts later on to allow us in Space . this is more of a technoStunt.Once you start spinning without air up there to hold your position steady ,you blackout. I fear thats this guys fate at 90,000 feet .

    Report Post »  
  • Secret Squirrel
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 10:15am

    .
    690 mph?
    I wonder what it would be like to break the sound barrier
    without an airplane!!!!

    Report Post » Secret Squirrel  
    • Doin it for da Chilren
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:45am

      Hey N. Korea, Austria has target drones for SALE too. Higher altitude, 100+ mph more than American made, and upgraded AI

      Report Post »  
    • dthomps6
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 4:43pm

      The sounds barrier is actually much higher at those altitudes. The sound barrier changes based on the density of air.

      Report Post » dthomps6  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:12am

    .
    No wonder he wears a helmet……….

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
  • tajloc
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:03am

    i can’t resist. Liked the science bits. You know you don’t need a parachute to sky dive? You need one to skydive twice. Rom 8:28

    Report Post »  
  • candcantiques
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:55am

    I guess if you are an adrenalin junkie I can understand the desire to do something like this. As a person that is not an adrenalin junkie I see a person putting their life on the line for a thrill and I see a company using a person that is putting their life on the line as advertising. If there was something that could be gained from this that would actually help human beings in some way then I agree. I have a problem though with a company using a thrill seeker who is putting their life on the line for an adrenalin rush in order to make money with the advertising.

    Report Post »  
    • Jefferson
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:58am

      It’s called the FREE MARKET and a consensual relationship, honoring contract laws. I know that may be foreign to some here.
      The two signed an agreement. No one used force to get the other to consent. They signed a contract stating that if said adrenaline junkie goes SPLAT, the company is not liable.
      They both benefit. Company gets lots of advertising. Adrenaline junkie gets free trips to get his fixes, and gets paid well I’m sure.
      What’s the problem?

      Report Post »  
  • RightPolitically
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:47am

    I hope he makes it.

    Report Post » RightPolitically  
    • jhaydeng
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 3:59pm

      His back will break when he opens the shoot at that speed! R.I.P sir!

      Report Post »  
  • TelepromoterNChief
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 7:25am

    I’d leave a carbon footprint all the way down.

    Report Post »  
  • 80mesh
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 6:59am

    i dont trust parachutes … i would take a 50 ft extension cord with me. you wonder how that would save me ….when have you drug a cord and its “not” hung up on something .

    and when i landed i can use the extension cord to double the range on my VOLT lol

    Report Post » 80mesh  
  • Detroit paperboy
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 6:40am

    I think i would have a sonic Boom in my underwear, therefore, i will stay on the ground !!!

    Report Post »  
  • arvee
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 5:33am

    WAY Kewl…would love to do this kind of thing…. Come on people… think back when we were young…we all wanted to do this sorta thing

    Report Post »  
    • RRFlyer
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:20am

      Today the world is full of sissies and cowards, and people wanting everyone else to be sissies. Where would we be if everyone was afraid to “try” something for the first time. or if other people talked then out of it. Orville Wright, Allen Shepard (Yuri Gagarin), sir Edmund, Hillary, Neil Armstrong, Christopher Columbus, Amelia Earhart (She was the first woman to solo across the atlantic).
      Go ahead and get negative about dangers. Except for Neil Armstrong, all of those people are dead now anyway, but none of them died being the “first” to do what they did. And the world is better off because they took the chance.

      Report Post »  
  • bikerr
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 2:53am

    What happens to the balloon?

    Report Post »  
    • JJ Coolay
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 6:35am

      I wanna know how he and the parachute can survive the ripping force of falling at 600MPH to all of a sudden slowing to the fall of a parachuted pace. Seems like it would cause major whiplash and serious stress on the parachute chords. But what do I know?

      Report Post » JJ Coolay  
    • BaltimoreJoe
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 7:07am

      I think JJ that his terminal velocity slows as the air gets more dense so that when he gets to 5k feet he will be traveling about as fast as he would have had he jumped from about 5300 ft. A brick dropped from 120k ft would still be going much faster at 5k ft because it’s terminal velocity is much higher. Essentially he will reach terminal velocity pretty quickly then gradually slow the whole rest of the way to about 65 mph or so if he’s spread out.

      Report Post »  
    • BaltimoreJoe
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 7:19am

      Ug, terminal velocity of a falling person w/o aids is about 120mph or so, not 65mph… gradually, or suddenly, as skills and gear permit you eventually do reach zero.

      Report Post »  
    • Mr.Fitnah
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:43am

      @ JJ COOLAY he will slow naturally as the air get thicker and he can position his body to make it less aerodynamic He will have several chutes and drag chutes to aid in deceleration.

      Report Post » Mr.Fitnah  
  • burnteye86
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 2:42am

    Wow. There are some really intelligent people on this website. Seriously. Now, some are dumb as a bag of rocks but I really enjoy reading comments from the smart ones.

    Report Post » burnteye86  
  • DMG8487
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 2:06am

    Interesting that there is no mention of what he is going to use to stabilize himself in that thin of an atmosphere. If I remember what I read about someone who tried this before at such an altitude it wasn’t the temperature that was the major problem or even the lack of oxygen – is was that they tumbled uncontrollably because the air was too thin to get stabilized and they blacked out and I think it was fatal in that case. So, I hope he has a plan to deal with that!

    Report Post »  
    • SekndAmendment
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 2:24am

      The current record is held by Joseph kittinger who also jumped from a weather balloon back in the 50‘s or 60’s. The problem is nothing to do with the air being too thin to stabilize. At that altitude there is no wind to destabilize you, orientation is not an issue. The issue is the lack of atmospheric pressure. Your suit has to be completely air tight and pressurized within or your body will swell and hurt painfully bad. Any exposed liquids will instantly boil. Just search the guys name on YouTube and Wikipedia. You can read all about it.

      Report Post »  
    • Economist
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 7:41am

      Yes I would think that he would want to keep from spinning would be key in low atmosphere. I would think it would be hard to control especially at first. But once he got up to speed in a minute it would be able to stabilize as long as you didn’t black out.

      I saw an interview with Joseph kittinger and he said when he did his jump there was a leak in his suit at the glove. But he kept going up to do the jump. Pretty intense.

      Report Post » Economist  
    • DefromDC
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 3:21pm

      Joe didn’t talk about any stabilization problems that I remember. He said it seemed like forever to get down out of the cold. I think I remember he was concerned about going too fast too stay alert vs going slower and freezing.

      Report Post » DefromDC  
  • Mr.Fitnah
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 1:52am

    He should take an iron and a board and do some extreme ironing on the way down, now that would be cool.

    Report Post » Mr.Fitnah  
    • ThePostman
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 7:18am

      I do believe that is the funniest thing I have ever read on the internet!

      Report Post »  
  • DeOppressoLiber
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 1:44am

    Good luck I like what Red Bull supports. Are they involved with the new Americas Cup?

    Report Post »  
  • Raven249
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 1:39am

    We are ODST? Insane..

    Report Post »  
  • proudamerican1990
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 12:34am

    Sky diving from 14,000 FT is thrilling enough for me (it is awesome) but 327,000 feet might be just a few too many…

    Report Post »  
  • AKDuclos
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 12:21am

    Sounds like bullsh$t to me. Terminal velocity for a human being is around 125 mph.

    Report Post » AKDuclos  
    • ddr85
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 12:48am

      At that altitude the atmosphere is approx. 1.5% percent as dense as it is at sea level. This means less resistance with basically the same amount of acceleration due to gravity. No ******** there, just some physics. Also, rent the classic movie, “The Right Stuff” for a theatrical experience of the first historical skydive at that height.

      Report Post » ddr85  
    • climbnjump
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 1:34am

      Yes, DDR85 has it right with respect to the skydiver’s speed at those high altitudes. However, even at “low” normal jump altitudes of 14,000 and below, there is no single “terminal velocity”. The 125 mph number is in the ball park for belly-to-the-earth configuration, but I can vary my fall rate easily 10 mph either side of that by arching harder or de-arching or even switching jumpsuits. And if I‘m head down in a chasing dive I’m going about 175 mph, in a stand with my feet down about 155 mph and in a sit, about 140 mph. Each of those speeds is a “terminal velocity” in that body configuration.

      Report Post »  
    • SgtB
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 1:56am

      I think that DDR pretty much called your ignorance on that. BTW, did you know that there is ~ just as much gravity acting on the astronauts at the international space station as there is on you at your chair? They are just continually falling at roughly the same rate as gravity pulls them in giving the illusion of weightlessness. If they stopped moving around the earth, they would fall like a rock in water. In fact, they would reach several thousand miles per hour upon re-entry, just like a space shuttle. So yeah, the 125 cap is busted. It all depends upon the height and the resistance to acceleration by friction.

      Report Post » SgtB  
    • DefromDC
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 3:47pm

      As I remember Joe said there was no resistance at first, in space above the stratosphere. I don’t remember what he said about slowing down. I think that is where he was worried about passing out and may have for a moment. There was no reference point to relate the speed in space.

      Report Post » DefromDC  
  • The-Monk
    Posted on February 7, 2012 at 12:15am

    What happens to a Human body, covered in fabric, when it breaks the sound barrier? I guess he’ll find out before we do. I’d rather be down here, wishing I was up there, than up there, wishing I was down here. Have fun with the sonic BOOM!

    Report Post » The-Monk  
    • single stack
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 1:25am

      Joe Kittinger found out in 1960 when he made a jump from 102,800 ft and reached a velocity of 614 mph.

      Report Post »  
    • JJ Coolay
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 6:46am

      That is something to think about…. speed of sound is about 770 MPH. He won’t be far from that if he really does reach 690+. WOW

      Report Post » JJ Coolay  
  • lukerw
    Posted on February 6, 2012 at 11:53pm

    42… is the Answer to Everything in the HitchHikers Guide… and the Biblical Number for Death!

    Report Post » lukerw  
    • CatB
      Posted on February 7, 2012 at 12:04am

      Mid-life crisis … taken to new heights.

      Report Post »  
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