Woman to Skydive from Space
- Thread starter meezercat
- Start date
Eep. I'm willing to try almost anything once, but stuff like that is just freaky. I mean, I have to convince myself to jump off the high diving board. However, I'll happily lean over the edge of a cliff. I dunno..maybe it's just the jumping aspect, but I'd love to go skydiving or bungee jumping
At any rate, she's either very brave or very, very stupid.
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Alien - "Sh*t. I swallowed Yoda! ...Don't quote me on that."
At any rate, she's either very brave or very, very stupid.
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Alien - "Sh*t. I swallowed Yoda! ...Don't quote me on that."
Live or die I say that she is both very brave and very very very stupid. You have to be brave to even think about doing anything like this. You also have to be stupid to acctually do it. Good luck crazy sky diver.
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accept what God and nature has given us each day with appreciation and gratitude, and never give up because somehow, somewhere were going to find fish and have a great time fishing!!!
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accept what God and nature has given us each day with appreciation and gratitude, and never give up because somehow, somewhere were going to find fish and have a great time fishing!!!
By Larry O'Hanlon,
Discovery.com News
Oct. 27, 2000 — Imagine skydiving from the space shuttle. Then imagine the next best thing: jumping from the gondola of a balloon hoisted to the edge of space and hitting supersonic speeds on the way down.
It's parachutist Cheryl Stearns' dream that by this time next year she will have made the balloon drop and set the world record for highest skydive.
Stearns, already a world champion skydiver and professional pilot, starts this weekend to prepare to jump from a dizzying 165,000 feet above the Earth. That's a fall of thirty-one-and-a-quarter miles — straight down.
Because the jump will start in sub-orbital space, she'll be wearing a pressure suit — virtually a customized spacesuit adapted for her unique quest. During the first minute of the fall there will be so little air to fall through that she will quickly reach speeds between mach 1.3 and 1.5, before slowing down in the thicker air of the lower atmosphere.
The lower she gets, the more air resistance and the lower her terminal velocity will be. She will actually be a little slower at 10,000 feet than a "normal" skydiver because of her large suit and extra gear.
"There's very little room for error," says Stearns. "This is not an easy endeavor — that's why it hasn't been done yet."
Unlike our hypothetical space shuttle parachutist, Stearns will not burn up in the atmosphere from air friction because she'll not be moving around the Earth at high orbital speeds. In fact the only reason she'll exceed the speed of sound is because there's not enough air in the stratosphere to slow her down. She won't even have enough air to help her orient her body to avoid dangerous tumbling. That's why she's started training now, a full year before she hopes to make the jump.
The last time anything like this jump was attempted was in the 1950s, says skydiving coach Gene Chacker of the Raeford Parachute Center in Raeford, N.C. But that from just over 100,000 feet and without free falling, he says.
"What she's getting into is extreme," says Chacker. "It's nothing to fool around with. It could be deadly in an instant."
Stearns has gathered together a team of experts for what she's calling Project Stratoquest to help her pull off the record-setting fall. Included on the team are people skilled and experienced in every aspect of the project, including balloons, pressure suits and high-elevation medicine.
"She's probably the most qualified female parachutist in the world," says Chacker, who was once Stearns' coach and remains her friend.
Stearns is aiming for October 2001 for her record-setting dive and hopes to make the balloon ascent and landing somewhere in the center of the United States, like Kansas or western Texas, she says. She's currently looking for sponsors to help disperse the cost of the project.
Discovery.com News
Oct. 27, 2000 — Imagine skydiving from the space shuttle. Then imagine the next best thing: jumping from the gondola of a balloon hoisted to the edge of space and hitting supersonic speeds on the way down.
It's parachutist Cheryl Stearns' dream that by this time next year she will have made the balloon drop and set the world record for highest skydive.
Stearns, already a world champion skydiver and professional pilot, starts this weekend to prepare to jump from a dizzying 165,000 feet above the Earth. That's a fall of thirty-one-and-a-quarter miles — straight down.
Because the jump will start in sub-orbital space, she'll be wearing a pressure suit — virtually a customized spacesuit adapted for her unique quest. During the first minute of the fall there will be so little air to fall through that she will quickly reach speeds between mach 1.3 and 1.5, before slowing down in the thicker air of the lower atmosphere.
The lower she gets, the more air resistance and the lower her terminal velocity will be. She will actually be a little slower at 10,000 feet than a "normal" skydiver because of her large suit and extra gear.
"There's very little room for error," says Stearns. "This is not an easy endeavor — that's why it hasn't been done yet."
Unlike our hypothetical space shuttle parachutist, Stearns will not burn up in the atmosphere from air friction because she'll not be moving around the Earth at high orbital speeds. In fact the only reason she'll exceed the speed of sound is because there's not enough air in the stratosphere to slow her down. She won't even have enough air to help her orient her body to avoid dangerous tumbling. That's why she's started training now, a full year before she hopes to make the jump.
The last time anything like this jump was attempted was in the 1950s, says skydiving coach Gene Chacker of the Raeford Parachute Center in Raeford, N.C. But that from just over 100,000 feet and without free falling, he says.
"What she's getting into is extreme," says Chacker. "It's nothing to fool around with. It could be deadly in an instant."
Stearns has gathered together a team of experts for what she's calling Project Stratoquest to help her pull off the record-setting fall. Included on the team are people skilled and experienced in every aspect of the project, including balloons, pressure suits and high-elevation medicine.
"She's probably the most qualified female parachutist in the world," says Chacker, who was once Stearns' coach and remains her friend.
Stearns is aiming for October 2001 for her record-setting dive and hopes to make the balloon ascent and landing somewhere in the center of the United States, like Kansas or western Texas, she says. She's currently looking for sponsors to help disperse the cost of the project.
im terrified of heights but there is NOTHING i can imagine that would be more fun than sky diving!! OH MY GOD
i was half way through reading this when i thought, HEY THIS ISNT TRUE!! i saw a thing on the history channel about a guy that went to the edge of the atosphere in a hot air balloon - then i kept reading and that one in the 1950's must have been the one i saw cause the film was black and white and stuff
but can you imagine how much fun it must be to skydive!? you can do anything!!! it would be such a trip that its insane
this is one thing i plan on doing as soon as i turn 18
the free fall has got to be insane
i was half way through reading this when i thought, HEY THIS ISNT TRUE!! i saw a thing on the history channel about a guy that went to the edge of the atosphere in a hot air balloon - then i kept reading and that one in the 1950's must have been the one i saw cause the film was black and white and stuff
but can you imagine how much fun it must be to skydive!? you can do anything!!! it would be such a trip that its insane
this is one thing i plan on doing as soon as i turn 18
the free fall has got to be insane
Skydiving sounds awesome, yes, but not skydiving in a pressure suite where there's so little air that you're going mach 1.5 or whatever. That would just scare the bejesus outta me. I'd like, faint on the way down and not pull my rip cord or something.
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Alien - "Sh*t. I swallowed Yoda! ...Don't quote me on that."
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Alien - "Sh*t. I swallowed Yoda! ...Don't quote me on that."
Mth, the chutes open automatically (pressure sensitive switch - set for a certain altitude). The risk is the tumbling. Just think about the centrepital acceleration her body could go through if she tumbled at mach 1.5! It could rip her to shreds.
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Does driving a car from Saturn make me an alien?
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Does driving a car from Saturn make me an alien?
What I wonder is how she plans to have any control of her body when she is under so much presure? I mean wouldnt the cyntrifical(sp) force rip your body to peices. Or liquify your insides take you pick either way it dosnt sound that fun to me.
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accept what God and nature has given us each day with appreciation and gratitude, and never give up because somehow, somewhere were going to find fish and have a great time fishing!!!
----------------------------
accept what God and nature has given us each day with appreciation and gratitude, and never give up because somehow, somewhere were going to find fish and have a great time fishing!!!
Eeek. That doesn't sound too joyous.