Top 10 Jumps

[scannon]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/13/top-10-jumps-extreme-athl_n_535836.html

[MHKflyer52]

Those guys are insane and are true adrenalin junkies.

Here is a link that tells and shows Colonel Joseph Kittinger and the step he took from space.

'>First man In Space - Skydiving from the edge of the world

[Hank]

Dumb question. If he truly made it into space then why didn't he burn up coming back through the atmosphere? I guess he hadn't made it past one of them important _spheres yet. Either that or he wasn't going fast enough like the shuttle or a meteor?

[scannon]

He didn't burn because his speed relative to the Earth laterally was minimal. A re-entry vehicle starts above 17,000 mph when it de-orbits. It uses the atmosphere to slow it down.

 

Colonel Kittinger's relative lateral speed was close to zero while his downward speed was only about 600 mph. The atmosphere slowed him as well but the velocity he had to shed before opening the chute was far less.

[MHKflyer52]

Hank,

 

Google SpaceShipOne and Scaled Composites and Burt Ratan

 

"http://www.scaled.com/images/uploads/elements/tierone_banner.jpg

SpaceShipOne

 

SpaceShipOne is a three-place, high-altitude research rocket, designed for sub-orbital flights to 100 km altitude. The unique configuration allows aircraft-like qualities for boost, glide, and landing. The ship converts (via pneumatic-actuated feather) to a stable, high-drag shape for atmospheric entry. This “care-free” configuration allows a “hands-off” re-entry and greatly reduces aero/thermal loads. Designed for a “shirt-sleeve” environment, the 60” diameter cabin has a space-qualified ECS, as well as dual-pane windows. The ship uses three flight control systems - manual-subsonic, electric-supersonic and cold-gas RCS. SpaceShipOne’s hybrid rocket motor is a non-toxic, liquid nitrous-oxide/rubber-fuel hybrid propulsion system. The avionics onboard provide the pilot with the precise guidance information needed to manually fly SpaceShipOne for boost and re-entry. It also provides guidance for approach and landing and vehicle health monitoring. The unit stores and telemeters flight test data to Mission Control." (Photo and information from Scale Composites web site.)

 

First private company to put a reuseable spacecraft into space and return and then repeated the same flight. Winner of the X-Prize here is a link to their web site which the above information was copied from

http://scaled.com/projects/tierone/spaceshipone_flies_again_within_14_days_-_wins_10m_x_prize