Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner will make his third attempt on Sunday to break the world record for highest-altitude freefall.
Baumgartner, 43, was originally scheduled to jump from a helium balloon 23 miles in the air on Monday, but that was postponed due to wind. On Tuesday, the second attempt was aborted at the last minute because of similar weather problems.
In preparation for his third effort this weekend, we’ve compiled 5 quick facts to know about the dive:
1) The Height
Baumgartner will be jumping from a height of about 120,000 feet (approximately 23 miles), near the upper-middle section of the Earth’s stratosphere. To put that in perspective: Mount Everest is approximately 29,029 feet (or 5.5 miles) tall.
The current record holder for highest freefall, U.S. Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger, leaped from 102,800 feet in 1960.
“Space, for man, starts at about 62,000 feet. That’s where the blood starts to boil,” says Kittinger in The Pressure Suit, a promotional video about Baumgartner’s jump.
The air is so thin at that altitude, he says, that water vapor bubbles begin to form in the body’s fluids — a process calledebullism.
The stratosphere is the second major layer of the Earth’s atmosphere, between six miles and thirty miles above the surface. It’s directly above the troposphere and below the mesosphere.
In the picture at the right, the stratosphere makes up the milky white and gray layers, between the orange and royal blue colors (might have to squint to see it best).
2) The Speed
If successful, Baugmartner will most likely break the sound barrier during his free fall, becoming the first person to do so. The air sound barrier is “broken” when an object reaches speeds over 690 miles per hour, also known as Mach 1. Kittinger reached 614 miles per hour in his jump, which measured at Mach 0.9.
Air pressure decreases as altitude increases, since less pressure is pushing the air molecules together. This change in density makes it easier for objects — Baumgartner, in this case — to move through.
It’s estimated that Baumgartner will reach about 720 miles per hour, or Mach 1.1 — at around 102,000 feet. He’ll remain in that state for approximately 20 seconds. Then, around 92,000 feet, the thickening atmosphere should slow him down, eventually to a terminal velocity of 120 miles per hour. He’ll open his parachute around 5,000 feet and float to the ground in New Mexico, where mission control is set up.
3) The Suit
Arguably the most important piece of equipment, Baumgartner’s suit has four layers:
The suit maintains pressure while simultaneously wicking away moisture from the inside. A small control valve on the outside automatically maintains the pressure environment of the suit — so, any moisture accumulated is retained on the outside, keeping Baumgartner dry and reducing the “trapped in a plastic bag” feeling. The suit is also custom tailored to Baumgartner’s body to ensure no baggy material gets caught in a gust of wind.
4) The Balloon
The ultra-thin helium balloon Baumgartner will be diving from is 55 stories tall.
For a safe launch, the winds at 700 feet above the ground — near the top of the balloon — should be a maximum of only 3 miles per hour. On Tuesday, when the mission was aborted, winds at the top were close to 20 miles per hour.
5) The Risk
There’s no doubt this is an extremely dangerous maneuver.
One of the biggest dangers Baumgartner faces is spinning out of control, which could make him lose consciousness. The key to avoiding this is to dive in a head-down position the entire fall for maximum control and speed.
Another large risk is his suit ripping open. As mentioned above, the custom-designed suit is what will be keeping Baumgartner alive in the stratosphere — if it leaks, for whatever reason, he’ll die.
“At that altitude, if the suit were to tear open — by any means — you’d start bleeding from the mouth,” Art Thompson, technical project director for the Red Bull Stratos Mission, says in The Pressure Suit. “With that cold exposure, minus 60 degrees, your saliva starts to freeze up, you start oozing fluids from your eyes. The level of horror is straight out of a science fiction movie.”
Weather permitting, Baumgartner’s next attempt is scheduled for this Sunday, Oct. 14 at 8 a.m. ET. In addition to the record for highest freefall, he will also break the record for longest freefall and highest balloon flight. You can watch the jump live on the Red Bull Stratos website.
Baumgartner has been training 5 years for this feat. He’s already broken several records, including base jumps from the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de janeiro, Brazil and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
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