120K Parachute Jump Outside Aug-10

8/8/2019 120K Parachute Jump Outside Aug-10

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PERRIS KYVENTUREerticalwiDd unelis alrurricaDen acan- nside he coreofacylindricalbuildirgthat looks ike an airtraffic-control tower,air drivDby huge answhooshes pwa.rd t 100 plusmilesperhou.The tmDel probably str'i the ialest buildingin Perris,California-a sprawlof mals ddtract homesa coupleof hous eastof LosAr-geles-but it feels jke t. Near he top, twosetsof doom open onto the colum of wind.Customers alk hrough hedoors,leannlotheai ras heyspreadheir armsandlegs, dare ified offtheir fet.ltb the sensaiion ffree fall wiihout ihe danger or nsh: skydivnrgwith its balls reuoved. l it's your firstvjsit,astaffpersonhelpssteadyyolrncaseyou .Lift upward andpuic or start bourirlgoff he ralls ikeanair-popped ernel.Today s leLh Bamgetnr's first visit toSkyveriur,but no onewillbe holdingonto him. Aphotogenic t year oldAusiian,Bamgartner is a ligh-profile professionalstuntman and BASE umper. A,4SEs anacrorryn for "buildings,aDieDnae,panstmeaning ridgesl,and earth tcliffsll' andBamgartner hasparachuied ff allof hesemany times. You can go on YouTubeandwaichhim jump off the outsiriched ightam ofthe enormous hriststaiue n tuo deImeiro or, moreprosaic.Iy, the rcof of ihe2o-story warsawMariott. Fornost of hisstuDts,Bamgatner weds a skydiver'supsuit. n the Marriott video,ht drssednbusiness asual. e did this o passhroughthe hotel lobby without arousiDgsuspicjon,but asyou watchhim walk to ihe edgeof theroof in his tie md .lressshirt, the impresionyou get s tbat umpingoffbuildings s, forBaumgariner,ust oother day on the job.THISEVENING INDS augartner dressedlik an astroDaut. e's nPeds iraining orhis role n the RedBull SiratosMission,anelaborate,xpensive, ndvery iskyproiectsponsored y the Austrian ene.gy-drinkcompany.The nission's aims are wofoldp{ i record-breakjngthleijc eat,partseri-ousscience.I'm erebecause'm interestedin he aeromedicalesarchideof htugs.During heStratosump,Baungartner iltest a rnoitified emergeDcyescape pace uiidesigDedy theMassachuseits-basedavidClark CompaDy,makersofprotectivesuits ortstpilois dd asironauissince he early daysof jet fljghi and spaceer"loration. Starting n1986,when h SpaceSluitr,e ChalbnEetex-ploded7l seconds fter iftotr, astronauts avebeenrequiredtoweepressuiad,orTgen fedsuiis not only lrhile spacewelking ui during

laurc\ rcentry, dd lddnE- themost dangerous artsof a light. Baurngannerwil weetlrc test suit to siay aliveduiu a"space ive"from 120,000 eet'rp, or roughly2l ni1es.Though hat height doe$'i ieclDiolly qualify asspace-irue space,with lts almosi completeabsence f air, stans at domd 02milesup itb close.Atmospherjc ressures lessthan a hudredth of what t is ai sea evel.The ump s slated or atesummeror falljn an undisclosed ocale most Ukely n NewMerico that Red B'!l is treating ike anatomic sec.et.Whereverand whenevr thappens, t wil provideeDgiDeers ith hardto-come-by information about the behaviorof a falling body in a pressurizedsuit tu x-trehely hin ajr,alongwith dataon hecac -tions ofthat body o umsonic md supereod.speeds. his snot informationwith everydaypracticalitr but someday if govrnneDtsponsoredspaceexplorationakes ffin abigwar as it would during a long ierm Ma6mission, r fconnnercbl paceourhm everbecomescommonplacehefliDctioDalityofsuch suits co'nd save ives.Becausethere'ssolitileairrcsistanceiniheatmosphere's ppd reaches,Bamgdiner jsorpecied o racbhe speed f sound-aroud690 milesper hour rather han jusi the120-mph erminalvelocityof a skydiver tiowe. altitude. No onehaseverbailed out in aspaceAighimergeDcy, rd jt isn't clearhowbest o do t safely.Baumgadner'splungewilthelp fill in the knowledgegaps.Baumgartner ayshe'sproudof the con-tributions he'll be naknrg b safer spacetravel,buthe'smainlyinterestednbrcakjngrccods. The current skydiving aliitude rndkis 02,800feet. ttoowassetbyaman tesiingsurvjval gear,n his caseaparachutesystm.In 1960, n aprojeci caled Excelsior,U-5.AnForcecaptainJoeKittinger steppedout of anopen top steelgondola dried by a heliumballoonand kydived,napariiallypressur-izedsuit,19miles oth ground. Kjiijngeris d adviser n heSkatosmission. n En -scripts on file at the New Mexico Musu ofSpaceHistory nr Almogordo, Kitiinger sayslrcbroke he soundbarier, but hewasn't carrying the necessaiyneasunE equipneni i.make he record fficjal.ThusBaumgartD.rwill probably lsoenter herecordbooks sthe lirst human o redch upersonic peedwjthout being nside a et or spacecraJi.For now, Baurng&tDer s sluhped in a lowchlir, sippingwaterduringamuch needdbreak.Today s he first inne heb worn thesuit n wnrd- unnel esting.He ooks weatyaDduDdelighted. ressure uits are heavy,

claustrophobic , nd rcstrictive. Therearesome ot spots n heshoulderl'he ays.Hemeans laces here he suit s rubbiDg.The echniciaNexchaDgeldnces-ihereareD'i upposedo beaDyhotspots. But tdoesn'tmaiterl' Baugarinr says,addingthai the unp is only six mjnuies ong. Heshrugs.'l l getused o tl'BAUMCARTNEREARNED boutprecisionskydiving ard aerobatjcson a special-forcesparacbuieeam n the Austrid militaiy from1988to2002.A1996 isit to BridgeDay,andDuar BASE-jumping veDt n Westvirgnna,sparked passioDforhis dceedinglydan-gerous Port.The&{SE atality List on Splatula.comis, sof ue 2010, i 147 eaths.Totrjght\ schedulencludesor yt5 Dinutesoi "media ime with lelixl aDd ater accesswasdeDied y RedBull,so can't el youasmuchas 'd like about he man Nide ihe suit.ls BaumgartDerhe egotjsiical, ublicityibirsty "siunt-monkey" hat criticson thebloe BAsEjunpr ..onwould baveyoube-ljeve?Arnongother hings, his detracto$ sayhe falsely ays claim io the record br lowestBASE ump.)Or is he a talented, ocused,career-sawf athliwho irlspirsealoLrsydd sou grapes sawnoevidence f the formerdu ng my(admittedly imited)time withhim, houghBauhgdtnefs webpreseDces,it nusi be said, airly devoid of hmiliiy. TheIelir tsaungariner wikipedia page kis hisDickrame s Godoftheskiesl'From a purelyvisDal tandpoini, odlifreisD'i oo aroff target.Baumgadnercsnbles agrittier, tubochdged Mdk wahlberg.To quoteaDhdustrial-producis amphletsaw not long ago,he has verygoodblilk andedgelinougirDess.e's n thewind tunnelnow,holding himself facedoM in th classicfree fallposition.He reaches round o hisfront to geta feel or the placementofiheripcord. Hecan't se i, be.ause he spacesdt prevenis ih from bendingor tuning hisneck.)Nen hesiraightensis egs, ssessnrgthe sdt's flexibilty This addssurfacearea orthewind o pushagainst,andheshootsup enfeei mdtheDsiops,hoveringabove groupof onlookers ike a Macyt balloon. He dJopsdoM again. henup, heDdown,eachtimesiopping an nchor two shori of the webbingthat orms hewind mel"'floorl'Ii.d Bull stratos echnical rojectdircciorArl T|ompsoncinges.Bamgdinerk chesiF..i .cntajns aDdray of deli.ate medical n-st' n'Jr. Laiion.Feli1!" hompson dks ntohis'rolthpiece. waich he hestpack!"Togih position for ihe jump, Baugdtne.will ascendn a custom desigDed,res-suizedcapsuleuspeDddlowa huge 30hillion cubic eet helimbal]oon. (See THsway DoMl' page 5. ODcere umpsout, hisbiggesi roblemwill econtrollinghisbody's


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position duing fiee falt, dE to the lack of airmolec'nes u ihe upper atmospbere.To get a sense f the problem, magineholdingyou hmd in the rushing at outside acd Mndow By anglingyou hdd io presentmore or lesssuface to ihe wind, youco feelobviousshjfts n direction md pressue. f thecarwere rareling 23miles up,you'dfeetnoneof thai. without air to apply couterforce, it\harder for skydive$ io stop a spin, and apoorlydesigned uit wouldmake he situa-tion worse.Bamgartner wil need o free fallfor about 30 seconds efore hegainsenoughspeed o generate be wind force rceded tocontrolhispositioD-or to benefit rom theemergency tabilization chute heru cdry.The dangersof spiDningv'ere explaiDed ome by retiredAir loice colonelandmasterparachutisiDanFulghar!. ulghamwas oeKittinger's backupbefore he recod seiting&celsior junp od is a veierm escape-srtemtester or the Ai! Force ndNASA.Duringa196l test ofthe ejectionsystem or a high-altitude jet called ihe X-20 Dyna Soar,Fulghm went into a flat, turntable spin andexpedenced enirifugal forces so strongthat he coutdn'thold his arms o his chest"I t was ike {as encasediDronl'he saidin a telephone inteniew. His chute opened

pQ ,, r1e ruuKs pret Ly P,O(lllKe ll person,56'ctrareeaaik waliters. Toqu.orerts pa$phlet saw ot oig ago. en ndustrial-prodr:pfsqqrphlet sawnot ongago,nas Vefy $OOd bUIk andedgelineouglineis.

rgartner'sWikiDediaDageistshisnickname sdof the skieSli ue lo.o!-sellv.godlikenperson,eds or noses-ihe tests ueled ong-standinrumors hat the military wassecretly ecoveing th bodiesofalieDswho hadcrashedn thscrublandsoutsideRoswel,New Mexico.On one occasion,he alienwasDo lulghm himself. ulghu od Kittinger crasheone Satudaymorning in ls59 when hejr baloon cdne down in a field otr theoutskirts oRoswell. he 800 poundgondola adbeereleasedoo earlyand begu io tmble, coming to a stop on lulgham'shead.When htook offhis heinei, his entire headswelledsseverelyhat Kittingerdescribedis acea"just a big blobl' Fulgham as aten to thhospital at WalkerAir ForceBase,n Roswewhjch was staffed nrpdt by civilios. I askehim iJ he recallspeoplepointing md staring"I don't knowl'he said, becausetheonwy I could seewas o put my fingersup an

Art Thompson hjnks he dummy eslrlweremisleadingand hai high-altitude spinning is unlikely to be a serious coDcen foBamgariner I brought up Fulgham'snarlethai spin and Kiitingers drogue-chuiprcblem.Thohpsonpointedoui that,bacthen,peopledjaln't skydive or sport the wathey do now. "They weren't used o ilrc ideofconiroling bodyposition n flightj'he said"There's een omuchadvancemenil'Bui astronautsaren't skydive$. And whileBaumgartner ill begnrhjs descent t zermilesperhou, jmping from a balooD thatl

eautomatically,but he still cme close o dying.Sensors locked him spinning at 163 evohLtions per mtuuie. rrweran somemonleys ontlrccentritugeatWright Pat, where he forcewas outwdd on the headai about r45 rpnl'he said, efening o ihe ftighi-PattersonAero Medical LaboEtory, n Ohio."Thebraincompressedenough nio the top of the skullthat it separatedrom the spinalcord.Thatshould have happened o mel' He also corldluve died rom "red ouil'wherein blood sspm into the bnin with enough orce o rup-

ONETHINCBAUMCARTNERdthES1TAIOStelm will chect out today s whetherhe spacesuit will allow him to get nio Foper "track-ng" postuie:aDgled oMwdd wjth his tu"rnsexiended rom hissides n a VThe mechanicsare explained o me byAri Thompson,who s overseeingonight'stests. Thompsonusesapair of folded rcadingglasseso demoNtrate. Byshiftjng the centerofrctatioD, theproper rackjngpositioncotr-vertsa jghi, level, untable spnr rto a arget

slower,more controlable tbree-dimensionalspnal. f that doesn'twork during Baum-gartner'sup, the forcesofthe spin wil trigger he rcleaseof a stabiliziDg chute caled aalrogue. he choguewil plmhisheadupnghlkeep him iiorn spinnjng into a red out sce-ndio, dd, one hopes,savehis rife. (Unlesstdeplqs Femaiuely, winds aroud his neck,ed chokeshim untii hepasses trt, asJoeKit-tinger's did in o Excelsiordress-rehedsaljump from 76,400 feet. Kittinger's mainchute, riggeredbyd altimetr,openedautoThere s no My, doM on edth, to simulatefiee fal in a ned va.trm. The Air Force,n the195os d '60s,'rsedo r y t by toppinganthropomorphicdmies oui of high-aliitudebaloons. The resultswereworisome: lots ofHgh-speedspiming md iurbling. On a sideDote, civiLids would sometimesbe passingthrough the drop zone aDd rcad ovr to seewhat wasgoingon- Becausehe project wasoperatedn secrecy nd he rccoveryeamsbehaved n a futiv, scuryingmanner adbecausehe dmies had trsed ingersdd no


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linesl' Like chjckn. ,ike anlhingwith bones. "But this wasn't likethai. lt Ms like theywere se!red,bui ii wasn'i iiom some siructure

Awindblagofzso qphwill blow an Oxygenmask off vour face.etaoomph,t #illre-moveahelmet- as t did o onepiiot whose isorwasblowr: openandacted ike-a, ail,qnSppipghis hegdback gainstissuitand breaKrngmS necK.cutting them up. And it couldn'thave been a blast injury, becauseyotrhave o haved aLnosphere o

As he alked, was ooking at theCoiuf,bid patch. The seven crewmembers'last rmes werestitched

on air curents, a pelsot1 jectingduring reenhy vould ben the neighboftood of 12,000mph.neighborhoodyou'dwant to spend

LARK, HERtrDBULLSITAIOSmedical dilector, is wll qudlifiedforpost.Clarkwasa high-arttude_parachuteorking with the U.S. lilitary'soperaiions.He'sbeena flight surgeonr NASASpaceShuttlecrews, Ddhe wasin the iNsiiSation of the colliftbid,which disiniegrated verTexas uringin February 003,killing all sevenasiroDauis nbodd.Clark's emetaminedeports o determineat whatthe astromuis pe shedand how, andm)'thing cor d have been doneto

Cldk isn'i vith us n Penis. methim morethan ayealago,up on Canada'sDwon Isldd,in tlrc high Arctic, wherc NASA Pe ormsluarandMartiane:?edriionsimrationsaia

sitecaled he HMP ResedchStatioD. larlshowedmea PowerPoiniabout he tectmolo_gieshat air forcesdd space gencies nd,lately,privatecompanieshaw come up withto keep liers andasironautsalivewhen hingsgowong. It alsoco\,redhe things that hap_lenwhenthoseiechnologiesfail r,asClarkput ii, "a]I the things hat cd kill l,?l'We sat at his desk n the medical tent. Nooneelsems arolnd. A wind turbine outsidemadeahaurted, drcning somd Atonepoint,without conuneDt,Clel handedme o STSlo7 nussionpatch,ike heonecolurnnia'sastronauts had orn. It seemedike agood imeto askabouthisworkonthei stiEaiion.I tnew fron reading a goverment docu-meni cal]ed he "Colunbid CrN Survival D-vestigationReport" hat theastronautsdidn'ihav het visors doM when the crewcom_pa ment ost pressure. wondered f theymight have suwived had their suits beenpressurizednd hey'dbeenequippedwithse]J-deploying dachutes.Theclosest hing to aprecedentwas hecrashof tstpilot Bill weaver.on Jduary 25,1966,Weaver urvivedwhenhis SR-7rBhck-bird brokeup dound him whne tmveling atMach1.2-more hanthree imes he sPeedof sound.His pressure uii and the factthat he was lynrgat 78,0 0 feet,where heai is about 2perceni 6 denseas he air at sea

lerel Fotecied him from the friction heating andwindblast that wot d, at loweraltituds,hddiv km apersonmoving thai fast(wea!rbriefly blackedoui, but his chuiedeployedautomaticaly at l5,0OOeei.) Colun-biawas Eveling atDdly Mach 17,but"giwnthe negiigibledeDsiiyofih atmosphere i 40milesup, thewindblast was about he equiv_alent of a400 mph blast at sea evel lt pre-seDtedwhat Ari Thompson describesas amanageableisk. "It's suwivable,"said Cldk.But the Cofunbio astronauts acedcruelerihreais tho windblast and thermal buns."we had somevery unusuarnljuy patternsthat werenot explatuabley anythtugthatwe de accustomedol'Ckrk said. By"we" hemeart flight sugeons:peopleaccustomdobrainsspunoff their stemsudlimbs sDappedby windblasi.) "We know how peoplebreakaparti' Cldk continued."Theybreakon oint

on heperimeteriMccooL RAMoNANDER-SONHUSBANDROWN LARK HAWLA.Cldk. Someibibgclicked n myhead:WhenI firsi arrivedon Devon sldd, l'd heard haithe spouseof oneof the Columblaasbonautsnouldbe here.JonathanCldk, I now realized,was the husbdd of astronaut Lauel Clark,who'd died. I didn't know whether to saysonething, orwlut that someilitrg shouldbe.Themomenipassed,md Cldk kepi taling.The aimosphereat 40 miles up is too thinfor blast wa\s btrt not for shockwaves.Theteam conchded,mostly though aprocessofelimination, tEi it wd shockwavesint hlledthe colmbid astronauts. lark explainedihaiiD high-speed brealGps, like ihose abo\Mach 5 five times he speed f somd, orabout 3,400 mph an obscue phenomenoncaled shock-shock nteEction is thought tocome nto ptay.When areeDiering pacecraltbreaksapart, hunaLeds f piecesnone withthe caretuIy planned aerodyDamicsof theintact craft- de flying at h]"rsonic sPeeds,creatinga chaotic wbof shockwaves.Cldk

likened them to the bow wves behlnd awater-skier's oat.At the placeswhere heshoct waves nterseci, the forces come to-getherviih savage, iherwoddly intensity."l t basicallyfragnented them," Clarksaid."But not everyone.t wasvery ocation-specific. we had tbings thai i{ere recoveredcompletelyntactl'One sedchervho combedtheColunbid's400 mile debrispath n Texasfound atonometer, device hat measuresintraocularpresue. "It workedl'

pRoTEcTING EoPLEn these onditionssa complicated halenge.Any spacecrattescape ystemworkswiih alimited rangeof altitude and speed.Eieciion seats, or in-stance,work for ihe first eight o ten secondsof launch, beforeQforce-the interplayof airdensityand speed-generatedind folce-builds o a lethal evel.An eieciionsystem

needs o quickly blast the astronauts arenough asay io keep hem fron smashinginto the craft's appendagesr getting caDghtin the firebal of a catastrophjcexp]osionTo swive the exirmespeedandheat ofrcentry is moreproblematicstiL Roscosmos,ihe Russianspaceagenct has estedprototlpes of m iniatablecrew-escapepodalleda banub (an amalgd of bdlloonandpal@-ch1!te)-Heat shielding on the broad forwardfaceof the pod is desigred o protectthe ter-rified occupanis, and th lege surfaceareacreateshe dragneededo slow he pod o aspeedat which amdiisiage parachute ysiemcould, JaI goes ell, lower t safely o earth.But such a systemhasnever lown all the wayfrom spaco the ground,evenn tests.Alternaijvely, a peachuie colrld tower anentire capsule or crew cabin o the ground.(NASA'S ewOrion capsulenay be used ni-tialy as an escapepod for the InternatioDalSpaceStation. The chutewolndbe heary andcosuy o launch dd in be case f tlrc SpaceShuttle, ihe processof separating he crew


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compartmentfrom be estofthe craftpre-sents eriouseclrnicdchallenges.while wele at i, whatabouta moreobvi-ouscustomer aseiai.plarc passengerslsthere a way to bail out sa ely from a et that\aboui ocrash?why, otbe.thanthe weightandexpeDse,on'i airlines utfit every eatwitb a poriableoxygen 'rpplyand a seat-backparachuie? ormany asols,but theronr ons nvolve windblast aDdh,?oxia.At the halfway point of the Beadort WindForce cal, ir Evelsat I mph.,,Umbrellausebecomes jfficult ' siateshe Beaufort,tad overdramatical ly.te scale opsoui at7l+, the siartingponlt for hurricane orcwinds that ce reach190. That's aboutall theblow Daturecan nustL wherc the BeauJoleaves ffis wherewjndblast tudies egin.Wnrdbiast s!'t weather.Theair sn,t rushirgatrou; tou'rc rufihg at t - havingbailedouior ejecied rom an mperiled craft.Atthespeedofmostprivateploes lltto180mph ure efictsofwindblast armainlycosmet'c.Thecheekse pressedlat againstihe skul, bestowinga aut, faceLifted ppeaFmce. know his both rornhideous hotographsof me in ihe Skyvenhrc wiDd tuneiand frorn a 19,19Ariotion Medi.ire pape.ontheifects f high-velo.itywindblast.n he

lattena ndr identjfied sJ.1.,hddsomeatzerohph, appean n a 27t-mphwindblastwith his lips blown agape,gums D full viewlike ar agitaied,braying coEl.At 150mph, he cartilage fthe nosde-foms md the skin of the facestdis io fiutter."Thewa!sbeginat he corDers f thenouthi,the Aridfion Media e pape.e4lails, ,,andprogressacross he face at the rateof aboutl0O persecondo he ar,whereheybreal

120K Parachute Jump Outside Aug-10

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