Baumgartner’s freefall was even faster than we expected – apparently he broke the sound barrier by a comfortable margin at 843.6 MPH. – Click to Tweet.
Last fall, on October 14th, a man dropped from higher up in the stratosphere than any man has dropped before. And he made it safely to the ground afterward.
The man, as many of you may know, was Felix Baumgartner. When he dropped out of his balloon-lofted capsule from 127,825.4 feet altitude – which translates into just over 24.2 miles – he broke more than just the altitude record for highest leap. He also broke a record in speed.
The most recent number-crunching from scientists analyzing the data recorded by his spacesuit’s flight recorders says he managed even faster than anyone expected. According to them, as Felix fell he hit Mach 1.25 on his descent – not only thoroughly breaking the sound barrier but even exceeding the original estimates of his speed, which topped out at Mach 1.24.
Research Dare-Devil
Baumgartner was actually expected to shatter the sound barrier when he fell.
The jump was planned to get more information on what pilots or astronauts might experience if they bailed out at a similar altitude. We don’t actually know very much about how spacesuits handle the shockwaves that build up around an object when it exceeds the speed of sound. But we do know that such supersonic forces could potentially be very disruptive to a bailed-out pilot.
Record Smasher
After all the post-drop analysis has been completed, it’s official that Felix Baumgartner has broken three world records. His drop broke the records for:
— Maximum Vertical Speed, at 1,357.6 kmh / 843.6 mph / Mach 1.25
— Highest Exit (Jump) Altitude, at 38,969.4 m / 127,852.5 ft
— Vertical Freefall Distance, at 36,402.6 m / 119,429 ft
The mission was designed to break a fourth record for longest free fall time, but Baumgartner opened his parachute earlier than planned, allowing Joseph Kittinger, who was managing the capsule communications station back on Earth, to keep this last record.
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