There will always be daredevils who are led by mortal danger. They need few simple parachute jumps, give them such extreme sports so that the blood in their veins gets cold. What makes these crazy people do unthinkable things? Thirst for fame, money, national recognition? In this article we will talk about the highest parachute jumps from the stratosphere?
World record to date
In 2014, Alan Eustace, vice president of Google, set a new world record. He parachuted from a height of 41 km. During the free fall, which took 5 minutes from the force, he developed a speed of 1322.88 km per hour, which is more than the speed of sound.
The rise to such a height was accomplished thanks to a balloon filled with 1000 m 3 of helium. The path to the stratosphere is 4 hours, and the descent is 15 minutes. The whole experiment was kept secret until the landing of Alan. Today it is the highest parachute jump in the world.
The first words spoken by Eustace on earth were: "It was a wild, wild ride." Later, he recalls that the worst thing was to rise. He held onto the module, legs pulled up to maintain his balance. At the time of the fall, he made two full turns around his head, after which he opened the parachute, which stabilized his position in the air.
Felix Baumgartner's Jump
But the highest parachute jump in the world, made two years earlier, made a popular sensation. The Australian extreme jumped from a height of 39 km. The uniqueness of this act was that it could be observed in real time. At that moment, 10 million viewers gathered on the TV screens.
It took months to prepare. On Day X, a huge helium ball lifted the capsule in which Felix sat to a height of 39 km. It was originally planned that the jump would be completed from a height of 31 km, but the extreme managed to stop the climb only after 8 km.
Free flight
Seeing the Earth from space is a real miracle available to the elect. And when the Earth is in the palm of your hand, and you are without a spaceship - it is simply impossible to imagine, let alone describe in words. Take a step towards the unknown and plunge into the abyss of the abyss - this is the act of the most brave people.
Free fall during the highest parachute jump was 4 minutes 20 seconds. During this time, an irreparable could happen: Felix went into a terrible tailspin, he was spinning at a frantic speed to such an extent that he almost lost consciousness. For this fraction of a minute, he lost touch with the Earth.
Parachute flight lasted 10 minutes. The total descent time was about 15 minutes. The most interesting thing is that the viewers were shown a video broadcast with a delay of 20 minutes. This was done so that in case of misfortune people would not see bloody shots.
Other flights
All high-altitude flights made before this date back to the mid-20th century. All subsequent attempts until 2012 - ended in failure.
The very first high-altitude flight can be considered the experiment of the crew of the stratospheric balloon "USSR-1-bis", which occurred in 1935. Zille K. Ya., Prilutsky Yu. G., Verigo A.B. collected scientific data. When they began to decline, it turned out that the shell was damaged and together they would not sit down. Then Prilutsky and Verigo jumped with a parachute on the border of the troposphere and landed safely. And Zilla managed to land the aircraft.
In September 1945, another Soviet athlete made the highest altitude parachute jump in the world at that time. It was Vasily Romanyuk. He climbed into the stratosphere to a height of 13,108.5 m and jumped. In free fall, he was almost three minutes. Romanyuk managed to open the rescue parachute at an altitude of 1,000 m. At that time, it was a unique event that broke all high-altitude records. It turns out that an ordinary guy who was born on an average Ukrainian collective farm broke 18 records in his life. In 1957, he ascended into the sky again, this time - to the mark of 13,400 m. After a step down, he immediately opened his parachute, but a height record was set.
Joseph Kittinger
This man became an outstanding personality, and did a lot so that 50 years after his own jump, an experiment of Felix Baumgartner was held. In 1959, the Excelsior project was launched. The plans were to make the three highest parachute jumps. The first is in November 1959. Then a height of 23,300 m was noted. Malfunctions occurred, and the stabilizing parachute did not open. Kittinger fell into a tailspin and lost consciousness. Saved his main parachute, which opened automatically.
A month later, Joseph repeated the attempt, which this time was successful. For the jump from a height of 22,760 m, he was awarded the Leo Stevens Parachute Medal. A year later, the final experiment was held as part of the project. In the mid-20th century, Kittinger became the first person in the world to climb into the stratosphere without a spaceship. Its limit was 31,300 meters.
The jump got harder. Already in the sky, Joseph discovered a microcrack in his glove, but did not report it to Earth. Jumping from a space height, he developed a speed of 998 km / h before he opened the parachute. He did this in advance, at an altitude of 5,500 m, thus not breaking the record for the duration of free fall. On the ground, it turned out that his hand was badly damaged, but Joseph managed to break several records.
Evgeny Andreev
On November 1, 1962, the highest jump was planned for two: Evgeny Andreev and Peter Dolgov. They climbed to a height of 25,500m and stepped down. Evgeny Andreev flew 25,000 m in free fall, and only at a distance of 500 meters from the surface he opened a parachute. This event was the longest leap in the world. The athlete miraculously managed to survive.
The fate of his partner was tragic. His spacesuit was depressurized during the jump. He died before reaching Earth.
Future plans
The most ambitious plan is the dream of the French athlete Michel Fournier, who wanted to make the highest jump from a height of 40 thousand meters. The first attempt was already made, but while Michel was preparing to start, his balloon flew away without him. According to rumors, Fournier is not ready to give up and will try again.
Maybe it was a sign? No one knows what will happen if a person can exceed the supersonic speed so much. And if it is torn to pieces right in the sky? These questions have repeatedly asked themselves scientists and paratroopers. But, nevertheless, courage and courage every time force them to rise into the sky again and again.