Posts
Alan Eustace, 57, was wearing a specially
designed spacesuit
Was lifted by a balloon filled with 35,000
cubic feet of helium
Took 15 minutes to descend after using
explosives to separate himself from
balloon
Jump preparations and three year project
kept secret until today
Exit Altitude, Vertical Speed and Freefall
Distance records broken
One of Google's most senior executive's has broken
Felix Baumgartner's record for the highest parachute
jump in history.
Alan Eustace, 57, a senior vice president of
Knowledge at Google, was this morning lifted by a
balloon filled with 35,000 cubic feet of helium, from
an abandoned runway at an airport in New Mexico.
A well-known computer scientist, he fell faster than
the speed of sound and broke Baumgartner's world
altitude record set just two years ago by jumping
from 135,000 feet.
SPACE JUMP FACTS
The suit was a self-contained personal system for
exploring the stratosphere
Similar to spacesuits used on the International Space
Station, with improvements (to handle descent and
landing)
The balloon was filled with helium, and had an
11M cubic feet capacity
It started at just 30,000 cubic feet, but as air pressure
decreases will expand to 275 ft across.
It was controlled by a ballast and a vent to manage
the ascent.
He returned to earth just 15 minutes after starting his
fall.
'It was amazing,' he told the New York Times.
'It was beautiful.
'You could see the darkness of space and you could
see the layers of atmosphere, which I had never seen
before.'
Mr. Eustace cut himself loose from the balloon with
the aid of a small explosive device and plummeted
toward the earth at a speeds that peaked at more
than 800 miles per hour, setting off a small sonic
boom heard by observers on the ground.
'It was a wild, wild ride,' he said. 'I hugged on to the
equipment module and tucked my legs and I held
my heading.'
Eustace broke several records, including national
record for highest exit altitude; world and national
record for free fall under a drogue chute; national
record for vertical speed.
Eustace was lifted to his peak altitude by a helium-
filled scientific balloon while wearing a custom-
made pressurized spacesuit.
At over 135,000 feet, he began his dive, remaining in
free fall for approximately 4.5 minutes before landing
safely nearly 70 miles from his launch point.
THE RECORDS BROKEN
First World Record – Exit Altitude:
Alan took off at 07:00 am MDT this morning from
Roswell, NM, elevation 3673 MSL. After ascending for
2 hours and 7 minutes (1000 fpm) to a peak 'float'
altitude of 136,401 feet (a unofficial record for the
highest manned balloon flight), he exited at 09:09:51
MDT from an altitude of 135,890 feet (41,420 meters)—
a new absolute FAI world record.
Second World Record – Vertical Speed:
In freefall, passing 100,000 feet, Alan reached a peak
velocity of 822 mph,Mach 1.23 (1321 km/hr.). By
comparison at the same altitude in 2012, Felix
Baumgartner was falling at 809 mph and Mach
1.20 . . . however, Felix continued to accelerate . . . at
91,000 he reached his peak velocity of 843 mph,
Mach 1.24. (As a further comparison, Alan was
completely stable, while at the same point in time,
Felix was spinning uncontrollably).
Third World Record – Freefall Distance:
Alan manually deployed his parachute after
freefalling (with his stabilizing drogue) 4 minutes
and 27 seconds, opening at an altitude of 12,476 feet.
His total freefall distance was 123,414 feet (37,617
meters)—a new FAI World Record.
Alan landed at 09:24—14 minutes and 19 seconds
after dropping away from the stratospheric balloon.
His total flight time was 2 hours, 23 minutes and 40
seconds. He made a safe landing and in great
condition, and of course, in high spirits—mission
accomplished.
'I always wondered: what if you could design a
system that would allow humans to explore the
stratosphere as easily and safely as they do the
ocean?
'With the help of the world-class StratEx team, I hope
we've encouraged others to explore this part of the
world about which we still know so little.' said
Eustace.
A StratEx team goal was to develop a self-contained
spacesuit system that allows for manned exploration
of the stratosphere above 100,000 feet.
Such a system has a wide range of applications in
stratospheric science, development of spaceship crew
egress and the study of suited aerodynamics above
Mach 1.
Today, this goal was achieved as Eustace pushed
the limits of human exploration, accomplishing a
new way to explore a largely unexplored part of our
planet.
Grant Anderson, President and CEO and co-founder
of Paragon, said, 'The experience and dedication of
the StratEx team was crucial to the program's
success.
'Together, Alan and the team today extended human
spaceflight to the stratosphere in an important step
to solidify the safety of future human endeavors.
' It is an honor to work with such an incredibly
talented and accomplished group.
'This has opened up endless possibilities for humans
to explore previously seldom visited parts of our
stratosphere.
No comments