From the thread Strainger linked:
That was my only factual contribution to the thread, but others contributed much intersting stuff, and the subject was pretty well covered. The freefall for 13 minutes cannot be correct, as is addressed in that thread.
to back up GasDr, check the issue of national geographic featuring the article on the first circumnavigation of the globe by balloon. this feat was mentioned in the same issue.
-ellis
That old thread left the question hanging - did the guy break the sound barrier or not?
(I think a careful reread of member Omniscient’s post there says he did not).
The information I’ve read says that he did not. There’s a big difference between being just under the speed of sound and just over it. I don’t think a non-streamlined projectile like a human could do it without having a giant engine strapped to him.
But if someone did manage to break the sound barrier while parachuting head first, wouldn’t he have then been capable of talking out of his ass?
HE BROKE THE SOUND BARRIER. There were a 3 or 4 people crazy enough to jump at this rediculously high altitude. ONE of these jumpers DID BREAK the sound barrier.
Oh-oh. Dare I repeat it?
Do you have cites for your contention, Dr?
We’ve not seen any so far, and I would greatly like to see this question put to rest.
Give us a site, GasDr. You are so adamant about this, but the only site on this site (from another site, I might add) says that a diver “approached” the speed of sound and did not break it.
Yer pal,
Satan
I love duplicity…
Yer pal,
Satan
BTW, anyone here happen to know what the speed os sound is at, say, 80,000 feet?
Hmmn… Joe Kittinger’s home page lists among his accomplishments as "First man to exceed the sound barrier in free-fall (714 mph 16 August 1960 during record balloon jump). He jumped from 102,000 ft.
This contradicts other information I’ve read.
Kittinger did make the record high jump. I read a book describing high altitude balloon testing the Air Force did (partly) to prepare for manned flight. I will give you a reference as soon as I can get to the library.
He was wearing a pressure suit and he was testing a parachute intended to be safe at very high speed openings. The chute(s) opened in stages, first just a drag chute to get him oriented then a small one to slow him slightly and then the main chute. He had to free fall for a long time to get down to breathable levels before his oxygen ran out. The parachute research was directed at fighter pilots who were by this time flying very fast at extreme altitudes.
The air is incredibly thin at the altitude he jumped from. He experienced no indications that he was even falling – there wasn’t enough air to slow him down or to create a wind whisling by. He just kept accelerating – his terminal velocity was very near, maybe over, the speed of sound, but there was no buffeting or “sonic boom”. No physical sensation whatever. When he fell far enough for the atmosphere to be significant he was, of course, subject to normal aerodynamic forces and slowed down to more reasonable speeds.
The speed of sound is dependent only on temperature and composition of the medium, not altitude or pressure, although temperature correlates with altitude. Very cold air has a much lower speed of sound, so his actual velocity was much less than the speed of sound at normal temperatures.
This is one of those deals where truth is probably stranger than fiction. He was one extreme dude – it’s possible he didn’t go quite fast enough to break the speed of sound but he sure came a lot closer than anyone else ever has.
If man was meant to fly faster than the speed of sound he would have been born with 50,000 pounds of thrust.
If man was meant to fly faster than the speed of sound he would have been born with 50,000 pounds of thrust.
WHAT? Did somebody say somethin? Speakup! I caint hear you! HUH? What? Dayum tha grounds comin up awful fast. WHAT?
http://www.afa.org/magazine/valor/0685valor.html
This Air Force Magazine article gives some info along with claiming that he did go supersonic.
Two books on the subject –
The Long, Lonely Leap by Joseph W. Kittinger with Martin Caidin.
The Pre-Astronauts: Manned Ballooning on the Threshold of Space by Craig Ryan.
Caption for the dust jacket photo on the back cover of The Pre-Astronauts:
According to Ryan, “as he fell through the 90,000 foot mark he was traveling at an almost unbelievable airspeed of 614 MPH, on the verge of the speed of sound.” In an accompanying footnote he adds, “The speed of sound … in the tropopause … is only about 660 MPH.”
The balloon, Excelsior III, was launched at 5:29 a.m. Kittinger jumped at 7:10 a.m. The freefall lasted four minutes and thirty-seven seconds. His main chute opened at 18,000 feet.
If man was meant to fly faster than the speed of sound he would have been born with 50,000 pounds of thrust.
Hmmm… seems like I posted a thread about this once… not too long ago http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/002399.html
Like yogi berra says… its deja vu all over again…
Did this guy lose some buddys over
Roswell a decade or so earlier ?
Project “mogul” doesn’t sound quite so, so, umm you know, corny or made up now. I thought they just resently
made the first none stop around the world baloon flght.
THANK YOU PLUTO!!!
Shit, these guys can’t just take somebody’s word. My reference is the damn Discovery Channel…that’s it, exactly how Pluto described it.
GasDr – Yeah, this can be a tough crowd. But there are so many unsupported stories out there that we’re all skeptical. One of my rules of thumb is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. And this certainly is an extraordinary claim!
shiningnight – Some of the mysteries at Roswell were due to covert Air Force operations, but I don’t think it was Kittinger’s group. IIRC, the culprit was Corona. These were spy satellites that returned their film cartridges to earth (i.e. Roswell) after exposure. The whole thing was super secret – even the existence of the project was classified. So when strange things were seen in the sky the Air Force had to use the “weather balloon” story as a cover.
If man was meant to fly faster than the speed of sound he would have been born with 50,000 pounds of thrust.