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Into Thin Air


Early in 2005, champion skydiver Cheryl Stearns will make the highest free-fall jump in history from the edge of space. The StratoQuest mission's aim is to test new equipment that may enable astronauts to bail out of a stricken shuttle. It is badly needed research, as the Columbia disaster has shown. Stearns tells Barry E. DiGregorio how it all started with a dream.

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Describe what will happen during the jump.

The balloon ascent will take about 2 1/2 hours to reach 130,000 feet under ideal conditions. The ride down from the stratosphere will take about 10 1/2 minutes - 5 1/2 minutes for the free fall and another 5 minutes after my parachute opens. If I bail out at 130,000 feet and nothing goes wrong, I will reach Mach 1 in 47 seconds. Once I hit an altitude of 100,000 feet the atmosphere will thicken, and atmospheric friction will start slowing me down.

My maximum free-fall speed will be around 1150 kilometres per hour, though because of the thinness of the atmosphere it will feel like only 4 kilometres per hour. The speed I reach will depend on my body position on the way down. If I go into a head-down dive I could go much faster, and I may reach a speed of Mach 1.3. I don't know whether I will create a sonic boom. At 130,000 feet it will be about 0 °C . Above 70,000 feet you are into the ozone layer and the air is relatively warm. But between 30,000 and 70,000 feet it will be colder - around -35 to -70 °C.

I will open the parachute at 7000 feet so that by the time I reach 5000 feet I will be under a full canopy - you need 2000 feet of leeway for this parachute to fully deploy. By this stage I will have slowed to a speed of around 240 kilometres per hour due to friction.

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Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
 

 

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Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :
 
There is something really, really cool about a human creating a sonic boom.
 

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Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
 

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There is something really, really cool about a human creating a sonic boom.

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For a moment I had a "Bathroom Rights" thread flashback.

This could be the X-Sport of the next decade.
 

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Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
 
BtL, I was actually wondering if she wouldn't be setting some kind of record as the fastest human in the world of some kind?
 

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Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
 
I am sorry....

This is the worst possible comment to be made on that article....

****Warning, Crude bad nasty humor ahead****

Well, not nasty or crude.

but bad.

really bad.

Save your sanity and don't read this.

Don't blame me.

I warned you.

Its a sickness I have.

I have to write this.

Ok.

.

.

Even if her chute's don't open up, she is sure to leave a big impact on this world.

.

You can go back to your regularly schedule sanity now.
 

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Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
 
Dan, Dan, Dan...



I think she'l be breaking several records. This has to be the highest height from which a human has sky-dived. (dove?). Also, she will undoubtedly achieve the fastest speed reached by a free-falling human.

Hopefully Dan is wrong and she won't also hold the record for the largest crater created by a free falling human.

Yikes!!!
 

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Posted by T. Analog Kid (Member # 381) on :
 
I could be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure there are issues with unprotected people (dodges a series of condom jokes) going into the transonic region-- no matter how thin the air is, the sound barrier is still the sound barrier...

I know U-2 pilots (who fly at those type altitudes) have to keep a constant watch on their airspeed because they have about 10-15 knots between stall and supersonic... and if they go supersonic they break apart.

I wish her luck and, quite literally, hope she makes it down in one piece.

[ January 02, 2004, 04:30 PM: Message edited by: T. Analog Kid ]
 

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Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
 
I am SO jealous!
 

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