Red Bull Stratos is a scientific mission involving Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner. The mission will see Baumgartner ascend approximately 23 miles (37 km) over Roswell, New Mexico in a helium balloon before freefalling and parachuting to Earth.If successful, Baumgartner will break the sound barrier on his descent, becoming the first human to do so without vehicular power.
The project's launch on 9 October 2012 was delayed and eventually postponed due to strong winds. The revised launch date is 11 October.
History
In January 2010, it was reported that Baumgartner was working with a team of scientists and sponsor Red Bull to attempt the highest sky-dive on record.Baumgartner was going to make the 120,000 ft (36,600 m) jump from a capsule suspended from a balloon filled with helium, intending to become the first parachutist to break the sound barrier.On 12 October 2010, Red Bull announced it was placing the project on hold after Daniel Hogan filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, California, USA in April, claiming he had originated the idea of the parachute dive from the edge of space in 2004 and that Red Bull had stolen the idea from him.The lawsuit was resolved out of court in June 2011and on 5 February 2012, The Daily Telegraph reported that the project would be resumed.
Preparation
On 15 March 2012, Baumgartner completed the first of two test jumps from 71,581 feet (21,818 m). During the jump he spent approximately three minutes and 43 seconds in free fall, reaching speeds of more than 360 miles per hour (580 km/h), before opening his parachute. In total, the jump lasted approximately eight minutes and eight seconds and Baumgartner became only the third person to safely parachute from a height of over 13.5 miles (21.7 km).
On 25 July 2012, Baumgartner completed the second of two planned test jumps from 96,640 feet (29,460 m). It took Baumgartner about 90 minutes to reach the target altitude and his free fall was estimated to have lasted three minutes and 48 seconds before his parachutes were deployed. Baumgartner landed safely near Roswell, New Mexico, USA. His top speed was an estimated at 536 mph (862.6km/h), according to Brian Utley, an official observer on site. The jump represented a personal best for Baumgartner.Joseph Kittinger, who holds the records Baumgartner is attempting to break, became involved with the mission to advise Baumgartner and to help gather scientific data on next-generation full pressure suits.
Mission
The project's original launch date of 9 October 2012 was delayed 5 hours in the morning because of weather problems. At 12:00 MDT, the launch was aborted due to gusty winds and an overheated communications radio.The new mission date was set for 11 October 2012
Realeted Most viewed
No comments:
Post a Comment