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N0KFQ > TODAY 14.10.16 16:03l 63 Lines 3130 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 10405_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Oct 14
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<N0KFQ
Sent: 161014/1457Z 10405@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ6.0.13
2012
Skydiver breaks sound barrier with 24-mile jump
On this day in 2012, Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner jumps
from a capsule attached to a helium balloon approximately 24
miles above Earth and becomes the first person to break the sound
barrier without the protection or propulsion of a vehicle. After
making his record-setting jump, which was witnessed live by a
global audience via cameras mounted on his capsule, the
43-year-old Baumgartner landed safely in the desert near Roswell,
New Mexico.
Baumgartner, who was born in Salzburg, Austria, in 1969, started
skydiving at age 16 and spent time in the Austrian army as a
paratrooper. He went on to perform a series of daredevil feats,
including becoming the first person to jump from one of the twin
1,483-foot-high Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, then the world's
tallest buildings, in 1999, and becoming the first person to
skydive across the English Channel using a carbon-fiber wing, in
2003. The Austrian's record-breaking 2012 jump was more than five
years in the making and involved a team of engineers, scientists
and other aeronautic experts who custom-designed Baumgartner's
equipment, including his pressurized space suit (intended to
prevent his blood from boiling at high altitudes) and
6-foot-wide, 2,900-pound, pressurized capsule. In 2010 the
project, which was financed by energy drink company Red Bull, hit
a roadblock when Baumgartner started having panic attacks while
undergoing endurance tests in his pressurized suit and helmet.
However, a sports psychologist eventually helped him learn to
cope with his claustrophobia.
On the morning of October 14, 2012, a 550-foot-high helium
balloon made of 40 acres of ultrathin plastic lifted the capsule
carrying Baumgartner, nicknamed "Fearless Felix," from the launch
site at Roswell International Air Center. After reaching an
altitude of 127,852.4 feet, Baumgartner stepped off the capsule
and plunged toward Earth. His descent took nine minutes and 18
seconds_four minutes and 20 seconds of it in a free fall of
119,431 feet, during which he reached a top speed of 843.6 miles
per hour, or Mach 1.25. Specially designed cameras positioned
inside and outside of his capsule, as well as on the ground,
enabled millions of people around the world to watch Baumgartner
live online and on television. At an altitude of 8,421 feet above
sea level, he deployed his parachute and went on to land smoothly
in the desert. His entire mission, from launch to landing, took
two hours and 47 minutes.
In addition to breaking the sound barrier, Baumgartner also set a
new record for the highest-altitude jump. The previous record
holder, Joseph Kittinger, skydived from an altitude of 102,800
feet in 1960. Kittinger, a former Air Force colonel, was part of
the team that helped prepare Baumgartner for his jump, which
happened to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the day when
Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first person to
break the sound barrier in a plane.
73 - K.O., n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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