back to article Skydiver Baumgartner's 120,000ft spacesuit leap delayed by bad wind

Titanium-testicled skydiver Felix Baumgartner is poised to make his attempt on the world's highest free-fall record. The Austrian - who described himself as "like a tiger in a cage waiting to get out" - was due to leap from his Red Bull Stratos space capsule today at a planned altitude of 36,576m (120,000ft) over the New …

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  1. Pete 2 Silver badge

    First rule of spaceflight

    > spacesuit leap delayed by bad wind

    Don't fart in your spacesuit

    1. Tom 35

      Bad Wind

      Bad, Bad Wind. Go sit in the corner and think about what you've done!

      1. Dr. Mouse

        Re: Bad Wind

        He shouldn't have had that curry!

  2. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. 7-zark-7
    Coat

    Bum gardener.....hee hee hee hee

    That is all

    1. 7-zark-7
      Coat

      Re: Bum gardener.....hee hee hee hee

      2 thumbs down already? Perhaps I need to vet my puerile humour more rigorously and go and read some more Alain de Botton.

      Alain de Botton.....hee hee hee hee

  4. ratfox
    Boffin

    Speed of sound

    Interesting: I was going to complain that the speed of sound is very different at that altitude, but apparently not really. Wikipedia says that because sound goes faster in low density and slower in low pressure, the only real difference comes with temperature, and so the lowest speed of sound he should encounter is about 270 m/s.

    1. Jediben
      Devil

      Re: Speed of sound

      But then Ickypedia also say war criminals make suitable wedding guests, so take that with a pinch!

  5. Simon Barnes

    helium

    Glad to see the helium we're running out of isn't going to waste...

    1. Anonymous IV

      Re: helium

      Perhaps if the price of helium for frivolous use was multiplied by 10 then what remains could be sold at normal price for MRI scanners, and the like.

      1. Mike Flugennock
        Coat

        Re: helium

        Perhaps if the price of helium for frivolous use was multiplied by 10 then what remains could be sold at normal price for MRI scanners, and the like.

        Ten times the price for "frivolous use"? Man, that could really screw things up for my Alvin & The Chipmunks tribute band.

    2. Pete 2 Silver badge

      Re: helium

      It would be even more of a waste if he jumped from that height and then missed the earth

  6. The Axe

    24-day delay?

    I thought it was a 24-hour delay.

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: 24-day delay?

      God only knows how I missed that. It has been fixed.

      C.

      1. Steve the Cynic
        Trollface

        Re: 24-day delay?

        Maybe you fixed that, but you left in "the free fall part of his *ascent*" (my emphasis)...

        :)

        1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

          Re: Re: 24-day delay?

          Completely asleep at the wheel :(

  7. ukgnome
    Pint

    <---------

    Free ones of these if you land in Norwich

  8. TeeCee Gold badge

    Is Buzz Lightyear watching?

    This is "falling with style".

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    OK, Armadillo - shut this guy down!

    OK Mr. Carmack - you need to make a launch to 100km, and push somebody out of the rocket, and totally p0wnzor this guy ;)

    Seriously: I wish him well, and I do await the next person to try to beat the record, however they do it....

  10. Magister
    Happy

    I would so love to do this

    Did some jumping in my salad days; nothing from that height though.

    I remember watching the film made from Col. Kittinger's jump back in '60 and thinking that I wanted to break his record. Never had the chance, but wish Felix all the best for his attempt.

    I did hear a story that someone was going to put a small sign on the exit gate - "Mind the step"!

    1. Andus McCoatover
      Windows

      Mind the step???

      I would've thought "Mind the Gap" more appropriate....

  11. Paul Johnston
    Thumb Up

    Just hope

    Delays are inevitable with something like this but hope if there are several more he isn't tempted to push it just too far.

    This will be great when it comes off and he lands safely!

  12. Roger Kynaston
    Go

    Shirly a crap energy drinks maker

    would sponsor me to put on a suitable suit with some sort of heat shield and then take a step out of the ISS. 370,000m freefall has to be the best! Haven't fallen out of a plane since the eighties and I would have to shed quite a lot of lard but it would be worth it!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Shirly a crap energy drinks maker

      Erm, if you stepped out of the ISS you would be travelling the same speed of the ISS (about 17,000mph) and remain in the same orbit for quite some time.

      Sure, there is a little bit of drag from the extrmely thin atmoshphere there so you would ultimately fall to eath, but that is going to be a long time after you've stepped off the ISS porch.

      1. Mike Flugennock
        Boffin

        Bailout from orbit (was 'crap energy drinks maker')

        Actually, in the early '60s, during the development of the DynaSoar program, there was quite a lot of R&D work done on bailout-from-orbit rescue systems. Probably the best-known was General Electric's "MOOSE" system:

        ...The suited astronaut would strap the MOOSE to his back, and jump out of the spacecraft or station into free space.

        Pulling a ripcord would fill an inflatable heat shield with polyurethane. The astronaut would use a small hand-held gas to orient himself for retro-fire, and then fire a solid rocket motor strapped to his chest to return to earth.

        The MOOSE consisted of a chest-mounted parachute, a flexible, folded 1.8 m diameter elastomeric heat shield, and a canister of polyurethane foam. Pulling the deployment cord would fill the shield into shape and encase the back of the astronaut in perfectly form-fitting polyurethane. The astronaut would use a small hand-held gas get device to orient himself for retro-fire, and then fire a solid rocket motor mounted in the device. After aligning himself for re-entry and putting the MOOSE into a slow roll, he would throw the gas gun away. After a ballistic re-entry, the astronaut would pull the ripcord of the chest-parachute, which would pull him away from the heat shield for a parachute landing.

        There was also the choice of staying with the shield for a landing on land or water./ The buoyant polyurethane crushable structure would absorb the landing shock, and encased in the foam was a survival kit, SOFAR bomb, radar chaff, altitude flare, and food and water...

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