Ever wondered how it feels to skydive from 24 miles above Earth and landing safely on your own two feet? Well, that is exactly what happened to a Hungarian skydiver, Felix Baumgartner. On Sunday, news was spreading out like wildfire in regards to this event and if it was even possible. From his jump, researchers were able to gather information to help pilots and space travelers in future missions in times of disaster. The research also reported the effects in which the speed he came back to Earth, had an effect on the human body. Felix was able to complete the 24 mile jump in 4 minutes which meant that his average speed coming back down to Earth was a whopping 854 miles per hour! That’s astonishing!
Aside from Felix Baumgartner breaking the world record for highest skydive jump, NASA was also keeping a watchful eye on how well his astronaut uniform gear kept up. The article states that a NASA engineer stated that with these findings, they are able to improve the odds of survival for high altitude pilots and passengers, astronauts and the like. The world record that he beat was that record which was made back in 1960 by Joe Kittinger. Kittinger’s jump was 19.5 miles above Earth where he reached speeds up to 614 miles per hour. Sure enough, Kittinger was the one who was guiding Felix word for word with instruction as how and when to make the jump. It was very thrilling yet scary at the same time since experts stated that if he was not able to correct the spin he experienced for 40 seconds, he would have blacked-out and more sadly, he would have suffered a massive stroke. At any rate, they did have a medical staff on standby to attend to him after the jump and when he safely landed, all was well.
This article was found on news.yahoo.com.