Man falls at over 800 miles per hour and breaks sound and lands safely on ground

[roadman65]

Has anyone heard about the man who lifted himself up to a height of 24 miles and jumped free falling back to earth.  During his rapid descent, he actually broke the sound barrier and managed to land safely on the ground near Roswell, NM?

I do not know how he did it, but its amazing he did not crash into a 747 on his way down.  He not only would have killed himself, but all those on board.  I think this is so bizzare.

I am suprised he was not arrested. 

The story  hhttp://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/71245/group/homepage/ere.

[Zmapper]

I assume that the FAA can issue a temporary 'no-fly zone' for one-time events like this.

By the way, does anyone know what happened to the aircraft thingy he went up in after he jumped? Did it land, keep rising, or what?

[roadman65]

I wonder what happened to it myself.  I guess it is on its way to Mars or realistically it came back into the atmosphere and burned up.  The balloon would pop once it enters the vaccum of space.

[corco]

I'd assume they just designed it so it can't withstand re-entry and it burned up once the balloon pops

[J N Winkler]

I assume that the FAA can issue a temporary 'no-fly zone' for one-time events like this.

They don't even have to do that.  Anything above 10,000 feet is controlled airspace anyway, so the air routing traffic controllers can just route flights around the anticipated trajectory of the ascent and descent.  (Scheduled commercial flights try to stick to 35,000 feet and Mach 0.85 for maximum fuel efficiency.)

[deathtopumpkins]

There's no reason he would have been arrested, since he did nothing illegal. The whole event was planned intricately and took several years of preparation, including going through all the proper legal channels. It's not like he just flew up there and jumped out of a plane randomly.

As for the capsule, it was lowered back to the ground along with the balloon.

[Special K]

There's no reason he would have been arrested, since he did nothing illegal. The whole event was planned intricately and took several years of preparation, including going through all the proper legal channels. It's not like he just flew up there and jumped out of a plane randomly.

As for the capsule, it was lowered back to the ground along with the balloon.

The project's mission control remotely separated the capsule from the balloon and it parachuted to the ground.

[dirtroad66]

The FAA had stopped all flights within 50 miles was reported during the broadcast.

[Beltway]

I wonder what happened to it myself.  I guess it is on its way to Mars or realistically it came back into the atmosphere and burned up.  The balloon would pop once it enters the vaccum of space.

It got hit by a meteor, and popped.

[roadman65]

Even though I think the man is nuts, he has courage!  To be the first man to free fall at speeds that even most aircrafts do not even accomplish is something.  It even beats the time a man once built his own spaceship and launched it from a jet plane and entered space for far less money than NASA spends on their ships and missions.

He did experience more of a stop than a Navy Pilot landing on deck of an Aircraft Carrier does.  I assume he used a parachute, which would be a very abrupt slow down as he went from over 800 mph to eventually nothing where a Navy Jet goes  only from over 200 mph to 0 during his landing.

[Special K]

Even though I think the man is nuts, he has courage!  To be the first man to free fall at speeds that even most aircrafts do not even accomplish is something.  It even beats the time a man once built his own spaceship and launched it from a jet plane and entered space for far less money than NASA spends on their ships and missions.

He did experience more of a stop than a Navy Pilot landing on deck of an Aircraft Carrier does.  I assume he used a parachute, which would be a very abrupt slow down as he went from over 800 mph to eventually nothing where a Navy Jet goes  only from over 200 mph to 0 during his landing.

He attained 800+ only at the higher altitudes.  As he neared the Earth's surface, his velocity slowed to under 200 before he deployed his chute.

[kphoger]

I think it interesting that he neither felt nor heard anything of the sonic boom (which is constant for the object, unlike bystanders on the ground, due to the fact that it is constantly outrunning the pressure wave thingy*) due to his protective suit.

* Thingy is not a scientific, technical term.  Use in educated conversation at your own risk.

[Special K]

I think it interesting that he neither felt nor heard anything of the sonic boom (which is constant for the object, unlike bystanders on the ground, due to the fact that it is constantly outrunning the pressure wave thingy*) due to his protective suit.

* Thingy is not a scientific, technical term.  Use in educated conversation at your own risk.

It wouldn't have been very noticeable to begin with, since the air is so thin at that altitude.

[Road Hog]

He broke the sound barrier as it is on the surface, but at high altitude that's kind of deceptive. The atmosphere is thinner and colder and the speed of sound is actually lower. And without air resistance, terminal velocity is much higher.

There is no reason why someone on a suborbital flight, say at the apex of a 60-mile Virgin shot, couldn't double this record. As long as you aren't hitting the atmosphere at Earth orbital velocity and burning up, you should be good.

[Jim]

Here is a link to a somewhat busy and confusing graph that shows the lower speed of sound as altitude increases:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Comparison_US_standard_atmosphere_1962.svg&page=1

No idea how this comes into play with him causing/experiencing any sonic boom or not.  College physics was a long time ago and I don't remember a unit on the physics of people jumping to earth from 24 miles up...

[roadman65]

I do not think the ole Concord Sub Sonic Jet would hear the boom if you were on it, but those on the ground would indeed.  Even the Space Shuttles that boomed across Florida, I do not even thing the Astronauts heard their twin booms that occur when the nose and tail of the orbiter.

Remember the shock wave heads away from the object.

[kphoger]

Remember the shock wave heads away from the object.

But that's exactly it, isn't it?  When you reach the speed of sound, you catch up to your own pressure wave, making it a constant boom.

[Road Hog]

Remember the shock wave heads away from the object.

But that's exactly it, isn't it?  When you reach the speed of sound, you catch up to your own pressure wave, making it a constant boom.

But when you exceed it, you leave the sound waves behind and should hear silence.

[agentsteel53]

I do not know how he did it, but its amazing he did not crash into a 747 on his way down.  He not only would have killed himself, but all those on board.  I think this is so bizzare.

the atmosphere is a very large place.

the airspace restrictions were prudent, but - given the probabilities - it would have been amazing if he had hit an aircraft on the way down.

[Special K]

I do not think the ole Concord Sub Sonic Jet would hear the boom if you were on it, but those on the ground would indeed.  Even the Space Shuttles that boomed across Florida, I do not even thing the Astronauts heard their twin booms that occur when the nose and tail of the orbiter.

Remember the shock wave heads away from the object.

The Concord was supersonic.  Subsonic aircraft don't produce sonic booms.

The passengers travel at the same speed as the pressure wave, so would not be affected by it.

[english si]

However Concorde (with an 'e' - us Brits let the French name it. Oh, and no article: neither 'the Concorde' or 'a Concorde' - it's unique in that) typically had to fly subsonic over land due to the boom - Malaysia and India both formally complained about the London-Bahrain-Singapore route, killing it.

Once the US government let Concorde operate in the US, the transatlantic flights to New York, etc killed off any flights east from London and Paris. I believe that the London-Paris flights did go supersonic over the English Channel (about a third of the route), and took perhaps 15 minutes off of the London - Paris time.

[kphoger]

Remember the shock wave heads away from the object.

But that's exactly it, isn't it?  When you reach the speed of sound, you catch up to your own pressure wave, making it a constant boom.

But when you exceed it, you leave the sound waves behind and should hear silence.

Really?  That's not the way it was explained to me just last week by an aerospace engineer.  His explanation was that the object pushes a cone-shaped pressure wave ahead of it as it travels which moves at the speed of sound.  Once the object reaches or exceeds the speed of sound, it catches up to its own pressure wave, and thus the object experiences a constant sonic boom.  My understanding (though this was not specifically stated) was that the pressure wave would still extend forward from the object's leading point, and therefore the object would still be constantly passing through its own pressure wave no matter how far in excess of the speed of sound it was travelling.

I am not an engineer.  This is just the way I remember the explanation.

[Alps]

Remember the shock wave heads away from the object.

But that's exactly it, isn't it?  When you reach the speed of sound, you catch up to your own pressure wave, making it a constant boom.

But when you exceed it, you leave the sound waves behind and should hear silence.

Really?  That's not the way it was explained to me just last week by an aerospace engineer.  His explanation was that the object pushes a cone-shaped pressure wave ahead of it as it travels which moves at the speed of sound.  Once the object reaches or exceeds the speed of sound, it catches up to its own pressure wave, and thus the object experiences a constant sonic boom.  My understanding (though this was not specifically stated) was that the pressure wave would still extend forward from the object's leading point, and therefore the object would still be constantly passing through its own pressure wave no matter how far in excess of the speed of sound it was travelling.

I am not an engineer.  This is just the way I remember the explanation.

Not quite. It starts "shedding" the pressure wave above the speed of sound. Instead of extending forward, there's a bow shock of sorts but then the actual wave is away from the front of the plane.