What?! Man Plans to Skydive from Space
Feb 7, 2012; 7:26 PM ET
"Red Bull Stratos, a mission to the edge of space. One Man. One Balloon. One jump from the edge of space breaking the speed of sound."
Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner will be pushing his body to the limit this August, with humankind's first sky dive from space. Baumgarner will be doing a "stratospheric free fall jump" from around 23 miles, or 120,000 feet, above Earth. Sponsor Red Bull says that Baumgartner could be "the first human to break the speed of sound with his own body."
How will he do it? A helium balloon will lift the athlete inside a space capsule to full-altitude within three hours. Baumgartner will wear a pressurized space suit for the jump.
If all goes well, Baumgartner's jump will break four records. He will be the first person to "reach supersonic speed in freefall," "break the speed of sound and achieve Mach 1 in freefall," freefall from highest altitude, free fall for the longest period of time, and have the highest manned balloon flight. And his total time from space to Earth? Between 15 and 20 minutes. Can't get more extreme than that!
Learn much more about the science behind Baumgartner's stunt at the Red Bull Stratos page. Find more videos, pictures and learn all about the team.
Felix Baumgartner during the suit fitting process at David Clark company Inc. Worchester, MA, USA April 1st 2009 Credit:Redbullstratos.com .
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