Video of the Moon From the North Pole? It's Fake. How James Webb Space Telescope Stays in Space. Test-dummy experiments conducted before Eustace’s flight revealed that a diver could enter a flat spin of 180 revolutions per minute. A space diver’s suit “would have to be a very, very rugged spacesuit,” says Erik Seedhouse, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.įor starters, it would likely require its own propulsion capability, Seedhouse says, in order to properly orient the diver so they don’t begin to tumble out of control-something that could cause them to pass out or that could tear off an arm or leg. The pressurized spacesuits astronauts wear act as personal spaceships, with everything the astronaut needs to survive in the event of an emergency. Reaching greater heights requires rocket-powered flight-a challenging feat because the diver’s bailout would need to be timed for when the spacecraft reaches its apogee, the point in its orbit when it is farthest from Earth. But balloons can only go so high (roughly 135,000 feet) before the air becomes too thin for them to maintain their altitude. In the past, these high-altitude skydivers have used specialized hot air balloons to lift them into the stratosphere, the second layer of Earth’s atmosphere. So what would it actually take to skydive from space?įirst, you have to get there. So far, neither Eustace, Baumgartner, nor anyone else who has careened down from the heavens has made it anywhere near the boundary, which lies roughly 62 miles above Earth’s surface, or 327,360 feet. Joe Kittinger’s famous free-fall from 102,800 feet above Earth’s surface in 1960, adrenaline junkies have sought higher and higher altitudes from which to jump, inching ever closer to the Kármán line, or the boundary between our atmosphere and space. Let’s nerd out over it together-join Pop Mech Pro. During the four minute and 27 second plummet, the tech mogul reached speeds of over 800 miles per hour and shattered Red Bull stuntman Felix Baumgartner’s previous skydiving record, established just two years earlier. He did it smartly and cheaply (relatively speaking), and now holds the world altitude skydiving record.In 2014, Alan Eustace, then the senior vice president of knowledge at Google, dropped from a hot-air balloon floating 135,899 feet above Earth’s surface. Hats off to Eustace for pulling this off the way he did. What Eustace did here - essentially just connecting himself in his pressure suit directly to the balloon and using small explosives to ensure separation - was far more economical, required much less lifting capability from the balloon, and really was just as safe - if not safer than Felix and his overly complicated capsule was. Red Bull wanted to put on a promotional advertising show, and spent way more money than they needed to in order to break Kittinger's record, what with their ridiculous capsule design. 
Hell, when Joe Kittinger jumped in 1960, he ascended in a "gondola", which was basically just an open seat attached to the balloon, with the spacesuit life support O2 needed for the ascent accounting for most of the added weight the balloon had to lift. After all, Felix (like Alan Eustace here) was already wearing his "capsule" - his pressure suit. That was just added dead weight, and actually prevented him from going higher. Red Bull really over-hyped the hell out of Felix's jump for media/advertising attention, and there was really no need at all for the "capsule" that he ascended in. Don't get me wrong, it was a great record and props to Felix for doing it (and getting paid to do it!), but it was actually surprising that no one had broken Joe Kittinger's 1960 record of 102,800 feet before Felix did.
As a former skydiving instructor, I can tell ya that Felix Baumgartner's jump was seriously overdone.
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