麻豆传媒

On 16 August 1960, US air force pilot donned a spacesuit, climbed into the gondola of a hot-air balloon, rose to 31,333 metres above the Earth, and jumped. The highest ever skydive lasted 4 minutes and 36 seconds. Later this year, Felix Baumgartner will try to go higher and fall faster. Catherine Brahic asks him and his technical director what drives them

Tell us about your skydive.
Felix Baumgartner: Later this summer 鈥� the plan is to do it in August 鈥� I will get into a pressurised space capsule in Roswell, New Mexico, go up to 120,000 feet [36,600 metres], depressurise the capsule and step out. Within the first 35 seconds I鈥檒l accelerate so fast that I鈥檒l break the speed of sound.

You鈥檙e jumping from the stratosphere. How will you get there?
FB: It鈥檚 two-and-a-half hours on the way up, sitting in the capsule suspended from a high-altitude balloon. When the balloon levels off, there is a checklist of 45 different procedures I go through before I stand on the exterior step.

What are the 45 items on the checklist for?
FB: We want to make my bail-out as easy as possible. I鈥檒l be wearing a pressure suit. When it is pressurised, you are very limited, handicapped. I have to keep my pulse down. When you stand out on the step you want to be really calm. And then I step off.

Even if we have practised a lot in the simulator, we do not know what鈥檚 going to happen when I break the speed of sound. Some people think nothing will happen, some people think I might start to go into a flat spin. We have developed a lot of equipment just in case, so that if I do flat spin, I don鈥檛 die.

Read more: 鈥�Exploring extremes: Heights and depths of derring-do鈥�

What happens during a flat spin?
Art Thompson: If you spin with your head towards the centre, blood leaves the head and you pass out. If you spin with your feet to the centre, you get a red-out. The blood rushes to your head, you get an aneurysm in your brain or a cerebral haemorrhage. There is a g meter on Felix鈥檚 wrist that controls for a flat spin and we developed an emergency drogue parachute, which can pull his head high and stop the rotation.

What are the other elements meant to keep Felix alive?
AT: The big thing is the pressurised suit. Without it the gas in his blood would come out of suspension. It鈥檚 like having it boil off and your useful consciousness is gone in seconds.

A lot of people would say this is crazy. Do you see it as a stunt or is there more to it?
FB: They also said that about the Wright brothers. We are all flying around the world these days because of those so-called crazy people. So there is always an advantage. They鈥檙e going to take tourists up to space in the future and they will all need safety equipment.

But in 50 or so years of space flight they didn鈥檛 have this safety equipment and they still did it.
AT: Some of the science team I put together for Red Bull Stratos were chief investigators after the Columbia space shuttle disaster. If you look at the tapes, the astronauts didn鈥檛 have their helmets on, they didn鈥檛 have their gloves on. If you look at the debris field, there is a very haunting picture of a helmet that looks exactly like Felix鈥檚 helmet sitting on the ground without a scratch on it. That helmet once had a head in it.

The test pilot Bill Weaver was thrown from a SR-71 Blackbird at Mach 3.18 when the plane came apart, and managed to survive. The point is that if the Columbia astronauts had been wearing the proper suits, capable of controlling their way down, wearing the right parachute pack with the right safety equipment, there is a good possibility that if Columbia had held together 20 more seconds the astronauts would have been at the altitude Felix is jumping from.

It鈥檚 possible that they could have survived. NASA was trying to develop an emergency rail for the space shuttle. The astronauts would have gone out on the rail and tried to skydive out. They never finalised its development. It never went into use.

FB: And just think of the insurance perspective, if space tourism becomes popular. Maybe in the beginning they don鈥檛 care, but if you have your first accident, insurance companies will say, 鈥淗ey, you guys need to wear spacesuits and parachutes!鈥� Remember how cars didn鈥檛 have seat belts in the old days, and now we have airbags, seat belts, multiple brakes. This is where we enter the space game.

You鈥檝e done one test jump. What was that like?
FB: I did a test jump from almost 22,000 metres. From a success perspective it felt really good. After five years鈥� working on the project we finally got off the ground and proved that we can do this. From a personal point of view it felt disappointing because it wasn鈥檛 as exciting as I expected.

AT: There was so much planning.
FB: Yes. We rehearsed the whole thing again and again. Like the other day I saw a documentary about Concorde and the test pilot said the first time he took off it felt like he was flying the simulator. It鈥檚 all about pushing the same buttons, so in your little world it feels the same. I had done a lot of practice skydives in the suit 鈥� unpressurised and pressurised 鈥� so I knew exactly how it felt.

And how does it feel to fall through the air?
FB: The bad news is you don鈥檛 feel the speed. You have no reference points, you see, nothing鈥檚 rushing by. You don鈥檛 hear a lot of sound because of your helmet. Your suit is not flapping because it鈥檚 pressurised. So you travel at 390 miles an hour [628 kilometres per hour], but you don鈥檛 feel it.

That鈥檚 a disappointment?
FB: It鈥檚 a big disappointment.

How do you top this skydive? What鈥檚 next?
FB: I鈥檓 going to quit.

You鈥檙e going to quit?
FB: Oh, yes. I鈥檓 45 years old now, I鈥檝e had a lot of luck these last 25 years. So, yes, I think I鈥檒l find I鈥檓 running out of luck. It鈥檚 not all luck, it鈥檚 also based on my skills, but you still need luck to survive all these crazy things for 25 years. Plus, you cannot top this. That is for the next generation.