UM-Bot
Feb 24 2008, 11:09 AM
Skydiving from the edge of the world
Click here to watch video - 06:54sOn August 16, 1960, Joseph Kittinger jumped his last Excelsior jump, doing so from an air-thin height of 102,800 feet (31,334 meters). From that nearly 20 miles altitude, his tumble toward terra firma took some 4 minutes and 36 seconds.
Torgo
Feb 25 2008, 03:42 AM
I've heard that for a good portion of the fall the air was so thin that he fell faster than the speed of sound; very little material to slow him down that high up.
merril
Feb 25 2008, 06:14 AM
holy mother of god.
BaneSilvermoon
Feb 27 2008, 12:46 AM
I'd read about this before but never seen the footage. Thats a stunning visual right there. As I understand it the 4 minutes was just his free fall decent. The entire process jump to ground was over 13 minutes. He fell 80,000 feet before opening his parachute. But think about this one. He reached about the halfway point of the stratosphere, which is less than 1/30th of the height of earth's entire atmosphere.
lexter_ian
Mar 4 2008, 07:42 AM
Balls of Steel!
demonmonkey
Mar 30 2008, 06:06 AM
QUOTE (UM-Bot @ Feb 24 2008, 12:09 PM)
Skydiving from the edge of the worldClick here to watch video - 06:54sOn August 16, 1960, Joseph Kittinger jumped his last Excelsior jump, doing so from an air-thin height of 102,800 feet (31,334 meters). From that nearly 20 miles altitude, his tumble toward terra firma took some 4 minutes and 36 seconds.
what song is that i like it
Ghø§t
Mar 30 2008, 06:22 AM
How hot did he get whilst falling at such high altitudes? If he indeed fell at the speed of sound, how did he not die from such friction? I'm assuming that as he went through thin-air there was a possibility of that not happening but what happened when he reached thicker, normal air?
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