Posted on 08/21/2003 6:49:18 PM PDT by HAL9000
A French is on the point of trying to cross the wall of the sound in free fall
The French parachutist Michel Fournier is on the point of trying a jump of 40.000 meters above the large Canadian plains, with the ambition to become the first man to cross the wall of the sound in free fall, indicated Thursday its attached of press.
Eleven months after having had to be solved to defer to 2003 its tests, for lack of favorable weather conditions, this old ordering army, 59 years old, reinstalled since August 11 its headquarters on a site of launching of balloon, located in a lost corner of Saskatchewan, in full center of Canada.
"the jump is envisaged in little time", ensured its attached of press, Diane de Robiano, joined by telephone. "All the team is not ready, they do not await any more but one beach weather", which could occur as of this weekend, it added.
To carry out his exploit, the parachutist intends to climb in a balloon inflated with helium up to 40 km of altitude, from where it will jump into space while hoping to reach in twenty seconds the 1.500 km/h, and thus to exceed the speed of sound (1.062 km/h). Then with 1.000 meters of the ground, it must open its parachute to land.
This "great jump" one duration envisaged 6 minutes and 25 seconds must enable him to pulverize in same time four records of the world: those of the duration and the free falling speed, the altitude of jump in parachute and the altitude of human flight in balloon.
The French, who prepares since close to about fifteen years for this jump, had not been lucky last year. The team had had to stop the preparations in progress, three times because of the whims of the weather without counting another time because of a light technical hitch.
They had spent three weeks to be awaited, until the closing of the weather window about September 20, making climb out of arrow the total invoice.
"It was involved in debt much with all that, it is a very significant problem for him, but much of people helped it financially", ensured Mrs. de Robiano.
All hoped well to give that in May, another period favourable with the level of the winds, but one of the members of the team had a cardiac faintness, constraining to defer the voyage to Canada at fine September August-beginning.
To reduce the risks at the time of this jump to the borders of stratosphere, the parachutist intends to plunge to the vertical while as much as possible avoiding being deviated of this axis by the jet-stream, the winds which blow between 7.000 and 12.000 meters.
Seems like a reasonable enough way for a Froggy to commit suicide.
I will watch.
I believe your numbers are valid for STP.. But at 130k feet, air resistance is pretty much non-existant...
Simple, at the altitude he will be jumping from, the density of the atmosphere is minimal. The table you cite are for near sea level.
Check out Project Excelsior.
"On the third and last jump in Excelsior III on August 16, 1960, Captain Kittinger jumped from a height of 102,800 feet, almost 20 miles above the earth. With only the small stabilizing chute deployed, Kittinger fell for 4 minutes, 36 seconds. He experienced temperatures as low as minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit and a maximum speed of 714 miles per hour, exceeding the speed of sound."
And through faster connections most tractors find a meal.
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