Breaking The Sound Barrier Without An Aircraft

[red750]

I received this as an email from a non-flying friend.

 

This story gives the term Test Pilot a whole new meaning.

 

Joe Kittinger is not a household aviation name like Neil Armstrong or Chuck

 

Yeager. But what he did for the U. S. space program is comparable. On Aug.

 

16, 1960, as research for the then-fledgling U. S. space program, Air Force

 

Captain Joseph Kittinger rode a helium balloon to the edge of space, 102,800

 

feet above the earth, a feat in itself.

 

Then, wearing just a thin pressure suit and breathing supplemental oxygen,

 

he leaned over the cramped confines of his gondola and jumped--into the

 

110-degree-below-zero, near-vacuum of space. Within seconds his body

 

accelerated to 714mph in the thin air, breaking the sound barrier.

 

After free-falling for more than four and a half minutes, slowed finally by

 

friction from the heavier air below, he felt his parachute open at 14,000

 

feet, and he coasted gently down to the New Mexico desert floor. Kittingers

 

feat showed scientists that astronauts could survive the harshness of

 

space with just a pressure suit and that man could eject from aircraft at

 

extreme altitudes and survive.

 

Upon Kittinger's return to base, a congratulatory telegram was waiting from

 

the Mercury seven astronauts--including Alan Shepard and John Glenn. More

 

than four decades later Kittinger's two world records--the highest parachute

 

jump, and the only man to break the sound barrier without an aircraft and

 

live--still stand. We decided to visit the retired colonel and Aviation

 

Hall of Famer, now 75, at his home in Altamonte Springs, Florida, to recall

 

his historic jump.

 

FORBES GLOBAL: Take us back to New Mexico and Aug. 16, 1960.

 

Joe Kittinger: We got up at 2 a. m. to start filling the helium balloon.

 

At sea level, it was 35 to 40 feet wide and 200 feet high; at altitude, due

 

to the low air pressure, it expanded to 25 stories in width, and still was

 

20 stories high!

 

At 4 a. m. I began breathing pure oxygen for two hours. That's how long it

 

takes to remove all the nitrogen from your blood so you don't get the bends

 

going so high so fast. Then it was a lengthy dress procedure layering warm

 

clothing under my pressure suit. They kept me in air-conditioning until it

 

was time to launch because we were in the desert and I wasn't supposed to

 

sweat. If I did, my clothes would freeze on the way up.

 

How was your ascent?

 

It took an hour and a half to get to altitude. It was cold. At 40,000 feet,

 

the glove on my right hand hadn't inflated. I knew that if I radioed my

 

doctor, he would abort the flight. If that happened, I knew I might never

 

get another chance because there were lots of people who didn�t want this

 

test to happen.

 

I took a calculated risk, that I might lose use of my right hand. It quickly

 

swelled up, and I did lose use for the duration of the flight. But the rest

 

of the pressure suit worked. When I reached 102,800 feet, maximum altitude

 

I wasn't quite over the target.

 

So I drifted for 11 minutes. The winds were out of the east. What's it look

 

like from so high up? You can see about 400 miles in every direction. The

 

formula is 1.25 x the sq. root of the altitude in thousands of feet. (The

 

square root of 102,000 ft is 319 X 1.25 = 399 miles)

 

The most fascinating thing is that it's just black overhead--the transition

 

from normal blue to black is very stark. You can't see stars because there

 

s a lot of glare from the sun, so your pupils are too small. I was struck

 

with the beauty of it. But I was also struck by how hostile it is: more

 

than 100 degrees below zero, no air. If my protection suit failed, I would

 

be dead in a few seconds. Blood actually boils above 62, 000 feet.

 

I went through my 46-step checklist, disconnected from the balloon�S power

 

supply and lost all communication with the ground. I was totally under

 

power from the kit on my back. When everything was done, I stood up, turned

 

around to the door, took one final look out and said a silent prayer: "Lord,

 

take care of me now." Then I just jumped over the side.

 

What were you thinking as you took that step?

 

It's the beginning of a test. I had gone through simulations many

 

times--more than 100. I rolled over and looked up, and there was the balloon

 

just roaring into space. I realized that the balloon wasn't roaring into

 

space; I was going down at a fantastic rate! At about 90,000 feet, I reached

 

714mph.

 

The altimeter on my wrist was unwinding very rapidly. But there was no

 

sense of speed. Where you determine speed is visual--if you see something

 

go flashing by. But nothing flashes by 20 miles up--there are no signposts

 

there, and you are way above any clouds. When the chute opened, the rest of

 

the jump was anticlimactic because everything had worked perfectly. I

 

landed 12 or 13 minutes later, and there was my crew waiting. We were

 

elated.

 

How about your right hand?

 

It hurt--there was quite a bit of swelling and the blood pressure in my arm

 

was high. But that went away in a few days, and I regained full use of my

 

hand. What about attempts to break your record? We did it for air crews

 

and astronauts--for the learning, not to set a record.

 

They will be going up as skydivers. Somebody will beat it someday. Records

 

are made to be broken. And I'll be elated. But I'll also be concerned that

 

they�re properly trained. If they're not, they're taking a heck of a risk.

 

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[cficare]

from memory...there was no report of this in the news at the time (Cold War)...it was much later when the USA wanted to crow about something that it was reported!

 

 

[dazza 38]

I have seen Video of it.Maybe it was you tube.It was a long time ago, that i watched it.

 

 

[dazza 38]

I just checked on You Tube.The video is there.I would put it on here, but im useless with that kind of stuff.Just type in Joe Kittinger and it will come up.

 

 

[Spin]

Good find red750, I had an inkling that the record had been broken or an attempt made, turns out Felix Baumgartner, the bloke Red Bull sponsor to do all sorts of crazy skydiving stunts, is planning an attempt (with Joe Kittinger's assistance) . Been some legal issues, but supposed to be back on track now. http://www.redbullstratos.com/