Skydiving is the kind of thing everyone should try at least once (two times was enough for me). Statistically, it's far less dangerous than driving a car and there's nothing like the rush of a freefall. This however, takes skydiving to a totally different level.
From the NYT...
But now Fearless Felix, as his fans call him, has something more difficult on the agenda: jumping from a helium balloon in the stratosphere at least 120,000 feet above Earth. Within about half a minute, he figures, he would be going 690 miles per hour and become the first skydiver to break the speed of sound. After a free fall lasting five and a half minutes, his parachute would open and land him about 23 miles below the balloon.
At least, that’s the plan, although no one really knows what the shock wave will do to his body as it exceeds the speed of sound. The jump, expected sometime this year, would break one of the most venerable aerospace records. For half a century, no one has surpassed (one person died trying) the altitude record set by Joe Kittinger as part of an Air Force program called Project Excelsior.
It's crazy but I kinda admire the guy. Good luck Felix.
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