Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Just for fun: Space jump!
On Sunday, Felix Baumgartner performed a record breaking space jump. He jumped from the greatest height ever and was the first to break the sound barrier in free fall. He was carried to a height of 39 km in a capsule suspended from a gigantic helium balloon. He free-fell for over four minutes, reaching a top speed of 1,342.8 km/hour (mach 1.24, or 1.24 times the speed of sound) before his parachute successfully deployed. He even stuck the landing.
Not to say that there weren't some tense minutes. As you can see in the video, he tumbled head over heels for a while before gaining control.
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Possibly the most incredible thing I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteIt was a riveting beginning to end: the two hours of anticipation; the sweaty, shaky hands when the door finally opened; the heart-stopping moments when he jumped and then when he started spinning; and the thrill of him landing back on terra firma and that he'd done it. (Shouts of "GET IN!" ringing around my living room).
Just for the human factor, that a human being is prepared to do that is absolutely incredible and the world is a better and more beautiful place for people like him.
As for figures. While 834mph is impressive; when you think about it, he was only 166mph short of 1000mph!
I completely agree! We were riveted!
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