The countdown has begun for Felix Baumgartner's epic jump from the edge of space!

CNN just showed the capsule on the flight line. He is inside doing final checks. The balloon is still deflated but will begin to fill shortly. The ride up is expected (according to talking head) to take "2 to 3 hours". At which point he will be at 120,000 feet and step outside.

Brrr... cold in space

Pardon if this question has already been answered, how long will the ascent be before he jumps?

Edit: The above poster has answer my question 2-3 hours, i hope he didnt have lots to drink.

Countdown started! Less than 4 minutes.

Mission Update

while I'm cooking

"I am strapped into the capsule, and I am ready to go." Felix Baumgartner to Joe Kittinger in Mission Control #stratos #livejump

now why do I have to watch the balloon be inflated on CNN (on TV) but they're making me watch a countdown on the live feed?
Am I the only one who's heavily annoyed by this whole thing? I wish I could stop watching

GOING DOWN RIGHT NOW. Countdown is over, DO WORK FELIX!


I feel like the first space jump was a lot more sketchy than what's going on today. The adrenaline must be out of this world...woka woka.


BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! Just aborted.

reply to post by Forevever

I understand, I've been waiting since this morning

LE-GEN-DA-RY moment for sure!

More math. Why Kittinger did not reach the speed of sound and why Baumgartner probably will.

The acceleration due to gravity at this extreme height is not the standard value of 32.2 ft/s² (9.81 m/s²) but a slightly lower value around 31.9 ft/s² (9.72 m/s²). This value can be verified using the Atmospheric Properties Calculator.

Solving this equation with the values provided tells us that Kittinger's theoretical top speed is about 905 ft/s (275 m/s), or 615 mph (990 km/h). This answer is quite close to the top speed reported by Joseph Kittinger in his publications. We can also rearrange this relationship to solve for the altitude he would have had to jump from in order to reach 714 mph. In so doing, we find that the Excelsior balloon would have had to have been at an altitude of about 107,000 ft (32,600 m), or over 4,000 ft (1,300 m) higher than it actually was.

source

CANCELLED!!!!!AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Awwww bummer ... abort abort abort

ABORT! Cancelled for today due to gusty winds.

its called off for today due to wind

The plan has been cancelled

reply to post by dedpope


Epic anti-climax!!!! Such a shame but it will happen, we all want the mission to be a success. Hopefully they will try again tomorrow.

Press in dire situations



Well I guess same time same place, tomorrow?

Kinda funny. As they deflate the bag of helium, it is steady as a rock. The gusty winds have "poof" disappeared.

Interesting difference in the "craft" the two men rode to the stratosphere. Kittinger stepped from an open air gondola. This attempt by Baumgartner (spelling?) is in a climate controlled capsule? What about the egress? Kittinger just had to stand up and step off. Baumgartner has to depressurize, open a hatch and climb through without getting tangled or ripping holes in his equipment. Then there is the temperature differential? Could that freeze up gauges and regulators maybe? I don't know how this works so just asking...

Cancelled the jump citing high winds.

Harte

Reminds me. I need to get back in the air.

It's been a while and the threads^ keep getting better.
If I was him, I would have wore 'wings' seen above.
Much more mobility, maneuverability and air time.

Hope he doesn't get high altitude sickness, decompression sickness (same as bends though instead of deep down, from up high). He may need a hyperbaric chamber session with 100% O2 to decompress if a single thread in the suit snaps? Not sure, never wore one. Regardless, I'd do it anyway just in case as the symptoms don't always show themselves till much later.