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FELIX BAUMGARTNER, THE Austrian skydiver who jumped from the edge of space in October, fell at 1.25 times the speed of sound, even faster than thought, organisers said yesterday.
According to a final analysis by Baumgartner’s team Red Bull Stratos, the 43-year-old reached 1,357.6 kilometres (843.6 miles) an hour, or Mach 1.25, in freefall.
Previously his team had said that the experienced skydiver had plunged back to Earth in his specially made spacesuit at 834 miles an hour or Mach 1.24.
The Federation Aeronautique Internationale governing body is currently reviewing whether to confirm this as a world record, Red Bull Stratos said.
Baumgartner’s leap from a capsule at 38,969.4 metres (127,852.4 feet) above California on October 14 was watched live by millions on television and the Internet.
The final data is available here but for your mind-blowing pleasure here are some of the crazy stats:
Altitude at which Felix Baumgartner stepped off the capsule:
38,969.4 metres / 127,852.4 feet
Fastest speed achieved during freefall:
1,357.6 kph / 843.6 mph (Mach 1.25)
Time elapse before reaching speed of sound during freefall:
34 seconds
Vertical distance of freefall:
36,402.6 metres / 119,431.1 feet
Time to reach maximum speed (Mach 1.25):
50 seconds
Duration of supersonic velocity:
30 seconds
Duration of “flat” spin:
About 13 seconds
Total time spent in freefall:
4 minutes 20 seconds
Chute pulled:
8,421.3 feet / 2,566.8 metres above sea level (approximately 5,000 feet / 1,525 metres above ground level)
Total time from the moment he jumped to landing:
9 minutes 18 seconds
Total time from launch of balloon to Felix’s landing:
2 hours 47 minutes
Minimum temperature (at 59,721 feet / 18,203 metres):
-95.62 Fahrenheit / -70.9 Celsius
And the records he broke?
- additional reporting by Susan Daly
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Hard to say anything in response to that article except… wow.
Crazy mixture of imperial and metric units in the above article. Thought we’d ditched that imperial shite ..
Always 1
So no worries about hitting the ground if you fall from that height then.
Is this an early April fool ? This story was reported days ago, and as far as I understood it meant that he travelled faster then previously thought. Not faster than thought itself.
Editor – Where are the sources confirming the speed of human thought ?
I think this is either a Journal in-joke or a particularly funny misunderstanding by the author.
Nuts of titanium I’d say. Very brave…….or totally insane. Maybe they are the same thing.
Unbeliveable…..
I’m watching too much Dr Who as I keep reading the headline as “Supersonic Screwdriver”!
It’s not like human thought is all that fast really. If he broke the sound barrier he was already going faster than thought. http://discovermagazine.com/2009/dec/16-the-brain-what-is-speed-of-thought
The jump was made over New Mexico. Not California as the article states
Did he actually break the sound barrier though? The speed of sound is different at that altitude.
Correct it is different,its actually lower locsl speed of sound at that altitude so he blasted any record
Correct it is different,its actually lower locsl speed of sound at that altitude so he blasted any record
I would of assumed its higher since there will be fair less air at that altitude and there would have to be a temperature dependence as well.
Gives you wings!
Jaysus, he was shtone mad for shpeed!
High jump champion 2012 !!
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