[BigCinBigD]

extreme sportsman = death seeking moron.

[altair]

Heh. Can we have Obama, Reid and Pelosi make the attempt first?

[bt_dooftlook]

Interesting - I thought Kittinger had broken the sound barrier (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CAkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aerospaceweb.org%2Fquestion%2Faerodynamics%2Fq0243.shtml&ei=d91aS5mzPIuGlAff9YDxBA&usg=AFQjCNHQ5ezqRWPrVzxCUWg2nbqxWz5yAQ&sig2=9ViFbMx_ZzNM9j50hJu_Fw) but apparently he needed to go up 1500 meters further in order to do so. Great videos of Kittinger’s amazing 1960 jump are on youTube.

[martin_fierro]

It is likely that in his long freefall of more than five minutes, he will exceed the speed of sound - the first person to do so without the aid of a machine.
"No-one really knows what that will be like," he said.

Better take these along.

[Nervous Tick]

>> Many have sought to repeat the feat down the decades but all have failed.

Uh... failed HOW? Chickened out before the jump? Technical problems precluded it? Died on the way down? Did the bug-on-windshield thing at the bottom?

Enquiring minds want to know.

[george123]

Future Darwin award winner.

[Cowman]

What happens if he produces the sound of breaking wind while breaking the sound barrier?

[Bean Counter]

Interesting. It seems to me that the danger is not in going supersonic during the fall through the thin upper atmosphere, it would be in transitioning back to sub-sonic speed as the shockwaves propagate along the length of your body.

Understanding and overcoming the forces of sonic shockwaves was a major hurdle in aircraft construction. Even the space shuttle has to throttle back on launch while it transitions through the sound barrier because the dynamic forces on it can be quite destructive.

I wonder if he will make two sonic booms as he slows back down...

[6SJ7]

This sounds almost like Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers”, only they used aeroshells for the descent.