In the news

Having never seen the moon landings that jump yesterday has to be the most exciting thing I've ever seen on TV. It made me imagine what it was like in the 60's to have everyone huddled around a TV to see this chap climb from a spaceship in to unknown territories.

Would love to think I'd see Mars landings in my lifetime though.

jump ... float ... pull rip cord .... not all that difficult

hell give me one of those suits and a weather balloon and i'd give it a go

.................. as long as there was someone up there to prise my clenched fingers from the capsule

I couldn't believe when I read he also suffered from claustrophobia.

I couldn't believe when I read he also suffered from claustrophobia.

That'd encourage him to get the fuck out of the capsule I suppose.

and out of the helmet and restrictive suit

SRS.

I'm scared of heighs, so I appreciate the balls, but I don't know anything about what he actually had to do, serious question, could anyone who had the balls (and money backing) do it?

you'd probably need to go on a one day parachute jumping course
so you know your reserve shute from your main shute and how to land without cricking one of your knees

The early part of the freefall when you could see him tumbling helplessly @ 1000 km/h on the infrared was a proper "holy fucking shit he's going to die" moment.

Can you do this on a fixie bike?

how many tailwhips could Matt Hoffman do over that distance?

Should be easier to get high if these experts are listened to
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/oct/15/case-drug-decriminalisation-failure-law?newsfeed=true

Anyone shout 'DAS'?

the footage of the kissenger jump was way better that bumgardners
i though technology had come along since 54 years ago ?

crap footage

The early part of the freefall when you could see him tumbling helplessly @ 1000 km/h on the infrared was a proper "holy fucking shit he's going to die" moment.

I know. I can't even being to think what was going through his head then.

Can you do this on a fixie bike?

Wouldn't surprise me if something was attempted before long. Danny Macaskill bunny hop followed by a few flips.

1340 km/h.

After the landing he himself said he had no idea whether or when exactly he went supersonic,
he was apparently busy with 'a lot of other things at the moment'.

Typical bloke, can't multitask, a woman would have managed that, and ordered a weeks shopping for the family.

KnowwhatImeanladies

The early part of the freefall when you could see him tumbling helplessly @ 1000 km/h on the infrared was a proper "holy fucking shit he's going to die" moment.

s'what I thought - I thought 'that's him, bum toast'

Should be easier to get high if these experts are listened to
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/oct/15/case-drug-decriminalisation-failure-law?newsfeed=true

can't see it happening with the fuckwitted shades of beige we have on all sides of the political spectrum

SRS.

I'm scared of heighs, so I appreciate the balls, but I don't know anything about what he actually had to do, serious question, could anyone who had the balls (and money backing) do it?

I think there's a bit of skill in not spinning so out of control that you centrifuge yourself to death or unconsciousness, or at least being able to recover enough to deploy parachutes.

But obviously most of the skill is in the preparation, and part of the value of the exercise is proving how survivable it is.

no gravity no atmosphere
the whole reason he span out of control was it didn't really matter and he had no control over it what so ever
as soon as earth atmosphere began to have an effect he was easily able to slow the spin put himself in a position where he could deploy his parachute

he wouldn't be able to centrifuge himself to death as there was little or no gravity to affect the blood in his veins

Does anyone know what happened with the balloon / capsule?

^^ I was just typing something similar to this.

He had to jump as straight as possible to try and mitigate the spinning, but he had no real control of it after that.

^ The landed it. I think they cut the balloon off and parachuted the capsule.

^^ yeah i wondered that
lets have a look for it and have a go ourselves

the footage of the kissenger jump was way better that bumgardners
i though technology had come along since 54 years ago ?

crap footage

Think he had some better cameras strapped to him provided by the BBC but I suspect there'll be tight licensing restrictions over when that footage can be used (not before the doc in a month or so)

#speculation

I thought he had a drone chute that he could have released to control the spinning, but did not want to as he would not have broken the record.

Weather ballons burst when they get high enough due to the pressure of the gas in the ballon. So i suppose the capsule parachuted back to earth on its own.

It all makes me think how out there Kittinger was 50 years ago