[rawcatslyentist]

The speed of sound varies slightly depending on temp and humidity/pollution.

At the altitude he "broke" it, was there even enough atmosphere to transmit sound?

Did he make a vapor cone?

[Moose4]

Not really and no. He said he didn’t feel a thing when he passed Mach 1. Of course, he was trying to pull himself out of a flat spin at the time...

}:-)4

[Northern Yankee]

Chuck Yeager also broke the sound barrier again yesterday, on the anniversary of his flight of the first historic flight to break the sound barrier.

He did it in an F-15 over Edwards AFB.

[zeugma]

At the altitude he "broke" it, was there even enough atmosphere to transmit sound?

That's what I've been asking. Personally, I don't think he ever broke the sound barrier because it probably didn't exist at the height he was when he "broke" it.

[ops33]

I was asking myself the same thing. None of the articles I read clarified this speed of sound thing. I did read an item on the internet that said the speed of sound at 120,00 is only 200 MPH. The only thing that makes sense to me is that he broke the sea level speed of sound. I believe that speed is 791 MPH with a temperature of 59F and atmostpheric pressure of 29.92.