Adventurer to leap from stratosphere
Source: Agencies |
January 24, 2010, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SOME time this year, Felix Baumgartner intends to step out of a capsule lifted 36,600 meters by a balloon and leap back to Earth, becoming the first man to break the sound barrier without an aircraft.
And yes, he will be afraid.
"Of course. I always use fear to my advantage, for focus," said Baumgartner, 40, the Austrian-born skydiver famous for gliding 35 kilometers across the English Channel in 2003 with a 2-meter wing strapped to his back.
The jump, sponsored by a beverage company, will take place from the stratosphere on an unspecified date at an unspecified place in North America, event organizers said on Friday. The date and place will depend on weather conditions.
One aim is to break the 50-year-old record set by Joe Kittinger, who jumped from 31,333 meters for the US Air Force in 1960 to mark the highest parachute jump and longest and fastest free fall.
Members of Baumgartner's team insist another goal is in the interest of science, including monitoring the effects of supersonic travel on the body and how it reacts to changes in pressure, temperature, acceleration and deceleration.
"The goal is to get him as high as we can, get him back down to Earth safely, and gather all the data we can," said Kittinger, 81, a consultant on the project.
Just as Kittinger did, Baumgartner will go up in a balloon, though his pressure suit, capsule and monitoring equipment will be more advanced.
And yes, he will be afraid.
"Of course. I always use fear to my advantage, for focus," said Baumgartner, 40, the Austrian-born skydiver famous for gliding 35 kilometers across the English Channel in 2003 with a 2-meter wing strapped to his back.
The jump, sponsored by a beverage company, will take place from the stratosphere on an unspecified date at an unspecified place in North America, event organizers said on Friday. The date and place will depend on weather conditions.
One aim is to break the 50-year-old record set by Joe Kittinger, who jumped from 31,333 meters for the US Air Force in 1960 to mark the highest parachute jump and longest and fastest free fall.
Members of Baumgartner's team insist another goal is in the interest of science, including monitoring the effects of supersonic travel on the body and how it reacts to changes in pressure, temperature, acceleration and deceleration.
"The goal is to get him as high as we can, get him back down to Earth safely, and gather all the data we can," said Kittinger, 81, a consultant on the project.
Just as Kittinger did, Baumgartner will go up in a balloon, though his pressure suit, capsule and monitoring equipment will be more advanced.
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