Space jumper is up!

[MarkD]

When he jumped off the platform I told my wife "That clanging sound you hear is his large brass ball banging together."

[Rod]

When he jumped off the platform I told my wife "That clanging sound you hear is his large brass ball banging together."

Wonder if Chuck Yeager called and said, "Welcome to the Big Balls Club."

[Highspeed]

Wonder if Chuck Yeager called and said, "Welcome to the Big Balls Club."

Wouldn't surprise me if he did.

But Yeager was a test pilot - there is big difference between jumping out of some stupid balloon like a crash test dummy, and taking an aircraft into previously unknown flight conditions while recording it's behaviour. Yeager has this ' aw shucks, I'm just a redneck that done good ' persona but he is a VERY clever guy.

To me the test pilot is the ultimate expression of human kinds will to reach out beyond our planet.

[Jericho941]

But Yeager was a test pilot - there is big difference between jumping out of some stupid balloon like a crash test dummy, and taking an aircraft into previously unknown flight conditions while recording it's behaviour.

If you put it that way, Yeager was just a glorified crash test dummy, too.

[MiddleAgedKen]

One baby step closer to "Wildcatters of Titan."

[JustinR]

Before he left the capsule, I was concerned that he was becoming hypoxic, as he wasn't responding correctly to the checklist challenge/response items. It might have simply been faulty comms, but it looked like he was hesitating and taking a long time to perform tasks. He might have simply been collecting himself. Once he started speaking on the platform it was a bit of a relief.

I haven't heard anyone mention if he drank a Red Bull before the jump.

[Highspeed]

But Yeager was a test pilot - there is big difference between jumping out of some stupid balloon like a crash test dummy, and taking an aircraft into previously unknown flight conditions while recording it's behaviour.

If you put it that way, Yeager was just a glorified crash test dummy, too.

I don't see it that way at all - he could influence the behaviour of his test vehicle, this guy was just along for the ride

[Jericho941]

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure if I was in an aircraft, I'd be in serious trouble trying to correct the sort of aerodynamic shenanigans his body was being put through at 730 miles per hour, with a cockpit full displays screaming rudder and stick inputs at me, let alone recovering from the same with nothing but a spacesuit.

[Highspeed]

OK, I give in - he's advanced our knowledge of how to fall out of stuff and survive.

Just wake me up when someone goes in the opposite direction...

[Highspeed]

Tellya what... How about I take you up to just 32,000 feet (1/4 of what Baumgartner did), stick you in a michelin man suit, and throw you out the airplane door and see how you do?

I'll die, probably from fear before I get ripped apart from the G-Forces induced by me flailing around like a twat and crying like a little bitch

But I still don't get the point of jumping out of a balloon at high altitude. It's a stunt and nothing more.

When Kittinger did it there were important research issues, now it's just an extreme sport. It'll probably be on the X games next year with all those skateboarding and BMX idiots.