up, up and away
In 1960, the world record for highest freefall was set by a
Frenchman named Michel Fournier as he stepped out of a
high altitude balloon from 102,800 feet and made history.
That is over 40,000 feet or over 7.5 miles above the
Armstrong line which is the point at which the atmospheric
pressure is so low that liquids begin to boil. For humans,
that spells death within minutes as your body fluids boil
off if your pressure suit tears or your face mask opens.
Fournier’s free fall lasted 4 minutes and 32 seconds and is
still the world record to this day. Fournier tried to break
his own record back in 1980 but to everyone’s amazement
his specialized gondola attached to the high altitude helium
balloon accidentally took off without him. How do you
explain that one?
Enter Felix Baumgartner. Austrian-born skydiving daredevil
who glided 22 miles across the English Channel with a 6-foot
wing strapped to his back after jumping from 33,000 feet
back in 2003. That must have been fun. Felix plans to shatter
the record by jumping from 120,000 feet up and well into the
stratosphere. The freefall should last for just over 5 minutes.
Fournier set the record for the USAF as part of testing for
flight crews that needed to bail out at high altitudes.
Baumgartner is doing it for the record.
Oh, and one last thing. Baumgartner plans to do this
sometime in 2010. He’d better hurry because Fournier
also plans to break the record this year too. This time
however he won’t be working for the USAF.
kf6hqc
