Teetering on the edge of his space capsule at 102,800ft above the earth, Colonel Joe Kittinger readied himself for one of the most daring acts in history.
It was morning, not yet 7am, and murderously cold — despite his insulated pressure suit. The sun-tipped clouds were more than 80,000ft below the capsule, which was held aloft by large helium balloons.
The New Mexico desert lay another 20,000ft beneath the clouds. Whole cities could be seen in the distance — at this height, the world becomes a map.
Kittinger remembers: ‘I let my vision run from the barren blackness of the heavens down through the indigo to the gently curving horizon far below. I tried to relax. I glanced up once more and the disc of the sun was sharp and brilliant against the ebony backdrop of deep space.
‘Even shaded by my helmet’s tinted faceplate, my eyes burnt. Nothing was familiar up there. Nothing seemed real. What I was about to do struck some as gutsy, but to others it was flat-out crazy.’
And so, on August 16, 1960, Kittinger jumped — becoming the first man to freefall from 102,800ft at a speed of up to 614mph.
His glove tore on the way and the pressures of near-space made his hand swell to double its normal size — but he made it back to earth and his body recovered.
It was an extraordinary feat, which paved the way for man to land on the moon.
Now, 50 years later, two men are engaged in a fierce battle to recreate the ultimate daredevil journey.
Critically, they aim to exceed Kittinger’s speed — which was 9/10ths the speed of sound — and break through the sound barrier, going supersonic.
They are Felix Baumgartner, an extreme sportsman from Austria, and Frenchman Michel Fournier — arch-rivals, who have dedicated their lives to the race to conquer the skies.
Baumgartner, 41, is a professional daredevil and parachutist, who has completed numerous dangerous stunts.
His mission is backed by energy drinks manufacturer Red Bull, which has supplied expensive kit, a high-tech Californian laboratory base and a team of scientific and medical experts.
His jump was due to take place at a secret location in New Mexico next month, on a date determined by weather conditions — but, as we shall see, his mission has been hit by an unexpected problem.
Baumgartner grew up idolising Kittinger, the first man on the moon Neil Armstrong, Spider-Man and actor James Dean.
He joined the Austrian army, becoming a close-combat specialist and a member of the parachute display team.
Then, 20 years ago, he began base-jumping — leaping from bridges and buildings, opening a parachute on his descent at the last moment. Among his most breath-taking stunts was to jump from the giant statue of Christ The Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.
From his home in California, he tells me: ‘No one knows what’ll happen to a human body reaching supersonic speeds in freefall. That’s one of the primary goals of the mission — because finding out could be a step towards making high-altitude bailout possible for astronauts.
‘Given the extreme high speed, low air pressure, low temperature and so on, I would be foolish to think that nothing could go wrong.’
Is he prepared to die in this attempt? He says: ‘I don’t think this mission is suicidal. The evening before any dangerous skydive, I can’t help thinking that it might be the last night I’ll ever see.
‘The trick is to learn to love what you’ve been taught to fear. Fear is good because it keeps you sharp.
‘If I can break the sound barrier, at Mach speeds wearing nothing but a space suit, just imagine the value this mission could have for future human flight.’
He plans to jump from 120,000ft — higher than Kissinger. His freefall will take about ten minutes, with the parachute being deployed at 3,000ft, if all goes to plan. But, temporarily, Baumgartner has been brought back down to earth.
While scientists were putting the finishing touches to the pressurised suit needed for his jump, a writ was lodged at the Los Angeles Superior Court by Daniel Hogan, who claims rights to the project because, he says, he pitched the idea for a space dive to Red Bull in 2004.
Hogan says the firm expressed initial interest but did nothing until it came up with a separate plan, four years later.
Consequently, for now, the Red Bull challenge has been put on ice. A spokesman said it had ‘acted appropriately in its prior dealings with Mr Hogan’. This delay for
Baumgartner could give his rival the chance to make the jump ahead of him — an advantage he badly needs.
For Michel Fournier’s operation is a rather more home-made affair.
The former paratrooper has been plotting his ‘grand saut’ (big jump) since the late Eighties from a tiny airstrip in North Battleford, Canada.
The 66-year-old’s first attempt, in 2002, was ruined by a ripped inflating tube. The following year, the balloon tore. In 2006, unfavourable weather scotched the mission.
A fourth effort two years later ended when his £120,000 balloon floated away before his space capsule had been attached. This year, his compression suit failed. Then his parachute popped open on the Tarmac and the operation was aborted.
His spokeswoman, Francine Lecompte Gittins, says Fournier has run out of money, having sold his car, furniture, medals and even his home. ‘He needs to find a sponsor. We don’t know when his next attempt will be,’ she says.
But Fournier is unbowed, saying: ‘I haven’t led a very conventional life. I have to live at 1,000mph and do crazy stuff.’
So JUST what do these two very different men hope to achieve? And can they do it?
Well, both want to go supersonic by ascending higher than Kittinger and, consequently, falling faster.
The trouble is — as Baumgartner says — no one knows exactly what will happen.
Experts believe the effects of the force generated could range from creating a mere wobble to the jumper’s body to their skin being peeled back.
Other dangers include the freezing cold atmosphere, the sun’s unfiltered rays, decompression sickness and hypoxia (or lack of oxygen).
If the suit lost pressurisation, it would trigger a process called vaporisation, in which the blood — in the vacuum of near-space — literally boils inside the body. Also, should the body go into a spin of more than 180 rotations a minute, the brain is likely to liquidise.
The history of freefalling and space exploration is, of course, littered with failure — from the Greek Icarus who got too close to the sun to the U.S. Challenger disaster in 1986.
On an early test jump from 76,000ft, Kittinger nearly perished. He passed out mid-fall when a parachute cord wrapped around his neck.
In 1962, a Russian air force colonel emulated Kittinger’s feat, jumping from 86,000ft.
However, his parachute either deployed far earlier than planned (and he ran out of oxygen as it slowed his descent to earth), or he died of decompression when his helmet failed. Either way, he was killed.
Skydiver and adventurer Nicholas Piantanida was fatally injured in an attempt to set a freefall record in 1966. It is believed he opened his visor to scratch his nose and died of oxygen starvation.
And so Kissinger remains a hero for his successful jump. In his new autobiography, Come Up And Get Me, he says: ‘My freefall mark has stood for 50 years and some say the record will never be broken. I don’t agree, but if it was easy, somebody would have done it by now.’
Apart from the problems of descent, it will be a huge challenge to reach the altitude necessary for such an endeavour. It cannot be done using an aircraft — even a spy plane can ascend only to about 80,000ft.
A balloon is an option, but it would need to be as thin as Clingfilm and the size of an office block. Red Bull Stratos — the drinks firm’s space division — has developed a capsule for the ascent, which is expected to take three hours to reach the jump-point. Now Kittinger is helping them.
Aged 82 and living in Orlando, Florida, Kittinger explains exactly what it was like hovering 19 miles above our planet and jumping into space.
‘Only a handful of human beings have ever experienced what I felt, seeing this magnificent planet set against the utter black backdrop of outer space. I realised that man will never conquer space — he will learn to live with it, but never conquer it.
‘I’m sure that every one of the NASA astronauts who saw such sights in the years to come felt the same way. You can’t prepare yourself for it. Looking up, the sky is absolutely black. Void of anything. I missed my family terribly in that moment. I seemed a long way from everything I cherished.
‘I grabbed the sides of the doors, inched the toes of my boots over the edge and glanced up at the black heavens and said: “Lord, take care of me now.”
‘And then I jumped. Thirteen minutes and 45 seconds later, I had stopped moving. I was back on Earth. I was alive. We’d done it. Mission accomplished. It was a terrific feeling.’
He adds: ‘I wish both men who follow me the best of luck. Space is an extremely hostile environment.’
It was morning, not yet 7am, and murderously cold — despite his insulated pressure suit. The sun-tipped clouds were more than 80,000ft below the capsule, which was held aloft by large helium balloons.
The New Mexico desert lay another 20,000ft beneath the clouds. Whole cities could be seen in the distance — at this height, the world becomes a map.
Kittinger remembers: ‘I let my vision run from the barren blackness of the heavens down through the indigo to the gently curving horizon far below. I tried to relax. I glanced up once more and the disc of the sun was sharp and brilliant against the ebony backdrop of deep space.
‘Even shaded by my helmet’s tinted faceplate, my eyes burnt. Nothing was familiar up there. Nothing seemed real. What I was about to do struck some as gutsy, but to others it was flat-out crazy.’
And so, on August 16, 1960, Kittinger jumped — becoming the first man to freefall from 102,800ft at a speed of up to 614mph.
His glove tore on the way and the pressures of near-space made his hand swell to double its normal size — but he made it back to earth and his body recovered.
It was an extraordinary feat, which paved the way for man to land on the moon.
Now, 50 years later, two men are engaged in a fierce battle to recreate the ultimate daredevil journey.
Critically, they aim to exceed Kittinger’s speed — which was 9/10ths the speed of sound — and break through the sound barrier, going supersonic.
They are Felix Baumgartner, an extreme sportsman from Austria, and Frenchman Michel Fournier — arch-rivals, who have dedicated their lives to the race to conquer the skies.
Baumgartner, 41, is a professional daredevil and parachutist, who has completed numerous dangerous stunts.
His mission is backed by energy drinks manufacturer Red Bull, which has supplied expensive kit, a high-tech Californian laboratory base and a team of scientific and medical experts.
His jump was due to take place at a secret location in New Mexico next month, on a date determined by weather conditions — but, as we shall see, his mission has been hit by an unexpected problem.
Baumgartner grew up idolising Kittinger, the first man on the moon Neil Armstrong, Spider-Man and actor James Dean.
He joined the Austrian army, becoming a close-combat specialist and a member of the parachute display team.
Then, 20 years ago, he began base-jumping — leaping from bridges and buildings, opening a parachute on his descent at the last moment. Among his most breath-taking stunts was to jump from the giant statue of Christ The Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.
From his home in California, he tells me: ‘No one knows what’ll happen to a human body reaching supersonic speeds in freefall. That’s one of the primary goals of the mission — because finding out could be a step towards making high-altitude bailout possible for astronauts.
‘Given the extreme high speed, low air pressure, low temperature and so on, I would be foolish to think that nothing could go wrong.’
Is he prepared to die in this attempt? He says: ‘I don’t think this mission is suicidal. The evening before any dangerous skydive, I can’t help thinking that it might be the last night I’ll ever see.
‘The trick is to learn to love what you’ve been taught to fear. Fear is good because it keeps you sharp.
‘If I can break the sound barrier, at Mach speeds wearing nothing but a space suit, just imagine the value this mission could have for future human flight.’
He plans to jump from 120,000ft — higher than Kissinger. His freefall will take about ten minutes, with the parachute being deployed at 3,000ft, if all goes to plan. But, temporarily, Baumgartner has been brought back down to earth.
While scientists were putting the finishing touches to the pressurised suit needed for his jump, a writ was lodged at the Los Angeles Superior Court by Daniel Hogan, who claims rights to the project because, he says, he pitched the idea for a space dive to Red Bull in 2004.
Hogan says the firm expressed initial interest but did nothing until it came up with a separate plan, four years later.
Consequently, for now, the Red Bull challenge has been put on ice. A spokesman said it had ‘acted appropriately in its prior dealings with Mr Hogan’. This delay for
Baumgartner could give his rival the chance to make the jump ahead of him — an advantage he badly needs.
For Michel Fournier’s operation is a rather more home-made affair.
The former paratrooper has been plotting his ‘grand saut’ (big jump) since the late Eighties from a tiny airstrip in North Battleford, Canada.
The 66-year-old’s first attempt, in 2002, was ruined by a ripped inflating tube. The following year, the balloon tore. In 2006, unfavourable weather scotched the mission.
A fourth effort two years later ended when his £120,000 balloon floated away before his space capsule had been attached. This year, his compression suit failed. Then his parachute popped open on the Tarmac and the operation was aborted.
His spokeswoman, Francine Lecompte Gittins, says Fournier has run out of money, having sold his car, furniture, medals and even his home. ‘He needs to find a sponsor. We don’t know when his next attempt will be,’ she says.
But Fournier is unbowed, saying: ‘I haven’t led a very conventional life. I have to live at 1,000mph and do crazy stuff.’
So JUST what do these two very different men hope to achieve? And can they do it?
Well, both want to go supersonic by ascending higher than Kittinger and, consequently, falling faster.
The trouble is — as Baumgartner says — no one knows exactly what will happen.
Experts believe the effects of the force generated could range from creating a mere wobble to the jumper’s body to their skin being peeled back.
Other dangers include the freezing cold atmosphere, the sun’s unfiltered rays, decompression sickness and hypoxia (or lack of oxygen).
If the suit lost pressurisation, it would trigger a process called vaporisation, in which the blood — in the vacuum of near-space — literally boils inside the body. Also, should the body go into a spin of more than 180 rotations a minute, the brain is likely to liquidise.
The history of freefalling and space exploration is, of course, littered with failure — from the Greek Icarus who got too close to the sun to the U.S. Challenger disaster in 1986.
On an early test jump from 76,000ft, Kittinger nearly perished. He passed out mid-fall when a parachute cord wrapped around his neck.
In 1962, a Russian air force colonel emulated Kittinger’s feat, jumping from 86,000ft.
However, his parachute either deployed far earlier than planned (and he ran out of oxygen as it slowed his descent to earth), or he died of decompression when his helmet failed. Either way, he was killed.
Skydiver and adventurer Nicholas Piantanida was fatally injured in an attempt to set a freefall record in 1966. It is believed he opened his visor to scratch his nose and died of oxygen starvation.
And so Kissinger remains a hero for his successful jump. In his new autobiography, Come Up And Get Me, he says: ‘My freefall mark has stood for 50 years and some say the record will never be broken. I don’t agree, but if it was easy, somebody would have done it by now.’
Apart from the problems of descent, it will be a huge challenge to reach the altitude necessary for such an endeavour. It cannot be done using an aircraft — even a spy plane can ascend only to about 80,000ft.
A balloon is an option, but it would need to be as thin as Clingfilm and the size of an office block. Red Bull Stratos — the drinks firm’s space division — has developed a capsule for the ascent, which is expected to take three hours to reach the jump-point. Now Kittinger is helping them.
Aged 82 and living in Orlando, Florida, Kittinger explains exactly what it was like hovering 19 miles above our planet and jumping into space.
‘Only a handful of human beings have ever experienced what I felt, seeing this magnificent planet set against the utter black backdrop of outer space. I realised that man will never conquer space — he will learn to live with it, but never conquer it.
‘I’m sure that every one of the NASA astronauts who saw such sights in the years to come felt the same way. You can’t prepare yourself for it. Looking up, the sky is absolutely black. Void of anything. I missed my family terribly in that moment. I seemed a long way from everything I cherished.
‘I grabbed the sides of the doors, inched the toes of my boots over the edge and glanced up at the black heavens and said: “Lord, take care of me now.”
‘And then I jumped. Thirteen minutes and 45 seconds later, I had stopped moving. I was back on Earth. I was alive. We’d done it. Mission accomplished. It was a terrific feeling.’
He adds: ‘I wish both men who follow me the best of luck. Space is an extremely hostile environment.’
