The influence of the 1960’s will long be remembered in history and it is easy to forget how important this period of time was from our modern perspective. A time of radical ideals and social awakenings, a period of time facilitated by radio technology which spawned a new political and cultural undertone through the use of music, which lead to some of the first mass anti-war protests in modern society.
Aviation was one of these ideas that got completely revolutionised during the 1960’s and publically with President Kennedy and his momentous ‘We choose to go to the moon’ speech at the Rice University in 1962. A speech that had thousands of engineers pushing the boundaries of what was possible of both man and machine, with one project, taking man to his absolute limit, to the place known as ‘Black sky’.
This project was called Excelsior, and although the project was initiated in 1958 the final conclusion occurred on August 16th 1960, where Colonel Joe Kittinger became the first human to successfully jump from an altitude of 102,800 feet (31,300 m), a record that helped engineers develop the next generation of space suits and parachute systems that the project tested a parachute system that would control descent of a human safely after a high-altitude ejection, as a problem of spinning uncontrollably was noticed using dummy bodies and traditional parachutes. The new system comprised of a small stabilizer parachute and a main parachute that would be deployed automatically at the desired point along the descent trajectory.
Now after 50 something years, this project is being challenged!
A challenge not backed by the military funding or government agencies as done previously for so many important discoveries before, but a project that supported by industry and is prepared to see if man can once again push the envelope of ‘what-is’ possible.
The Red Bull Stratos project is pushing the boundary of free fall flight and will once again; send man back to the edge of space. This man is Felix Baumgartner, and supported by a team of experts (including Colonel Joe Kittinger) is planning to step out of a stratospheric balloon at 120,000 feet and make the first supersonic freefall flight; a first for mankind to pass the sound barrier unaided. This attempt to dare atmospheric limits holds the potential to provide valuable medical and scientific research data for future pioneers.
Preliminary data from the International Air Sports Federation (FAI) shows data from a successful test jump by Felix Baumgartner on the 15th of March 2012 and how the statistics measured up:
The risks are momentous and as proven by an unsuccessful project in 1966 by Nick Piantanida where sadly he lost his life in the attempt to reach further into the ‘Black Sky’. Although I am sure Felix is more than prepared of all possible scenarios!
If you would like to follow his attempt you can over the following channels:
Web: www.redbullstratos.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/redbullstratos
Twitter: http://twitter.com/RedBullStratos
Further reading:
Book links:Magnificent Failure: Free Fall from the Edge of Space [Hardcover] by Craig Ryan
Come Up and Get Me: An Autobiography of Colonel Joe Kittinger [Paperback] by Joe Kittinger
