Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Supersonic high jump

August 16 is the 50th anniversary of Joe Kittinger's world altitude record parachute jump from a balloon at 31,000 meters (102,000 feet). Austrian Felix Baumgartner hopes to break not only the altitude record but also the freefall speed record - held by Kittinger at 982 kilometers an hour (614 mph) – by exceeding the speed of sound or 1,100 kilometers per hour (690 mph). The record attempt is sponsored, naturally, by Red Bull.


The 81-year-old Kittinger, collaborating with Baumgartner on the record attempt wryly observes, "Records are there to be broken."

1 Comments:

Anonymous Dan Lewis said...

So are necks, apparently.

9:50 PM  

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