62 Mile Club

Source: Red Bull Stratos

TUESDAY 29TH JUNE 2010:  As Red Bull Stratos grows increasingly near to realisation, the mission’s aeronautics experts today announce encouraging results from the latest high-altitude test jumps and step-off procedure tests. Mission pilot Felix Baumgartner himself acknowledges feelings of both satisfaction and apprehension while the team prepares to move into a new phase of testing.

During the last week in May 2010, the Red Bull Stratos team conducted three important tests:

Capsule step-off: At Sage Cheshire Aerospace in Lancaster, California, the capsule dangled from a 40,000-tonne crane to simulate its suspension from the balloon flight train, with Baumgartner practicing his movements inside, exiting and stepping off. The purpose was to determine how the vessel reacts to Baumgartner’s motion, and whether those reactions could compromise his descent. Even a relatively gentle tumble created by imprecise step-off could not only hinder Baumgartner’s ability to break the sound barrier but also suddenly devolve into a dangerously rapid “flat spin” once he encounters a level of increased air density.

Step-off technique bungee jumps: Next, the scene turned surreal as a group of pre-eminent aerospace experts and test pilots – including Joe Kittinger, who holds the records Baumgartner will try to break – gathered in a deserted Palmdale fairground to witness something they’d never seen during all their combined years of experience: a bungee jump in a pressurised space suit and helmet. After multiple jumps from a crane basket suspended 200 feet above the ground, Baumgartner’s exit technique had evolved into something that one team member described as “perfect.”

High altitude skydives: The finale to the week of testing was a series of skydives over the desert in Perris, California, reaching approximately 26,000 feet. This test, conducted on May 27, 2010, was the first in a fully pressurised suit and was a follow-up to a similar day of flights in early spring.  Baumgartner had been frustrated by the awkwardness of his equipment, especially by the way his chest pack – a vital technology hub for the descent – jammed his helmet and inhibited movement on descent and blocked his vision while landing. Objectives were to get a clean step-off from the rear-exit airplane; assess controllability and various body positions in the fully pressurised suit; experience suit deflation upon descent; and test a new chest pack system that allows one side to move out of Baumgartner’s line of sight so he can spot his landing. Baumgartner’s technique and the improved equipment worked so harmoniously that the team was able to accomplish all objectives.