Mach Man!

I was just going to update my earlier observations but what happened today is truly worthy of a post of it's own. Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian daredevil, rolled back the portal hatch cover, disconnected his custom space suit from external supplies, stepped off the stoop of his specially constructed capsule, at a height of over 24 miles in height, and fell into aeronautics history.

  Baumgartner, within minutes reached 833.9 miles per hour, or Mach 1.24, putting him solidly into the history books.

  Baumgartner broke altitude and speed records set half a century ago by Joe Kittinger, now 84, a retired Air Force colonel. Curiously, Baumgartner, early into the jump, experienced the same problem that had nearly killed Mr. Kittinger a half-century earlier. Early in the jump when he began spinning out of control in the thin air of the stratosphere, but as the atmosphere thickened, Baumgartner managed to stop the spin and open his cute at 5 thousand feet and continue to a soft landing, under full control.

For more about the jump and Felix and this incredible sky dive, you can go to the

New York Times here

The Wiki info on Joe Kittinger here

And Baumgartner's Red Bull Stratos jump here

1000mph "Bloodhound" ssc in the works!

You thought the Thrust ssc was fast just because it broke the sound barrier? Well check out the mind numbing Bloodhound ssc that is in the works. This bad boy is is designed for speeds over 1000mph! Interestingly enough, several of the people involved in the Thrust vehicle also worked on the Bloodhound, including driver Andy Green. Builders look towards 2012 for completion and testing, though only a full sized model is all they have to show. But the video is damn cool. Check it out!

Supersonic Car Demo: Bloodhound SSC @ Yahoo! Video

Thanks to Tim Sayell for the link!

Man to Break Sound Barrier Jumping from Edge of Space

Remember that scene from the latest Star Trek when Kirk & Sulu jump from space onto that futuristic drill platform? One of the seriously cool scenes in the movie. Well it seems the idea is still alive in Felix Baumgartner who has it on his mind to jump from the edge of space in an effort to break the sound barrier, and do it while in free fall. The last person to make a jump of this magnitude was United States Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger. Kittinger jumped on August 16, 1960, from an altitude of 19 and a half miles. Baumgartner will make his record breaking attempt sometime in 2010 as part of Red Bull's Stratus mission from a height of apx 20 miles!

Click here for a link to a short film on the jump.

Gizmodo article

1000+ MPH car goes for worlds record

Guess I am on a weird car thing this week, but you have to admit that anything that looks like this and goes this fast is as science fiction as it comes!

Aptly name the Bloodhound, the British born jet/rocket hybrid "car" will go after the world record sometime in 2011. The $16.2 million carbon fiber and titanium vehicle will reach an estimated top speed of Mach 1.4 with the aid of both a Eurojet EJ200 jet engine and a Falcon hybrid rocket engine producing a combined thrust of 47,000 pounds. The top speed of 1050 mph will be attained in a mere 40 seconds, making for an extremely uncomfortable ride for the volunteer driver, who has had experience with high speed craft as a fighter pilot.

<- bloodhound images ->


<- Bloodhound page ->