Red Bull Stratos Mission: Successful and Speed of Sound Broken by Felix Baumgartner
The Red Bull Stratos mission, undertaken on October 14, 2012, went off without any major problems. The mission was an attempt for a balloon assisted aircraft to reach a world record altitude of 120,000 ft and for a human to then perform a freefall skydive from the vehicle at that height. The mission also had the potential for a human breaking the speed barrier during freefall. This was achieved during the freefall descent to Earth.
The mission resulted in a world record freefall height of around 127,000 ft (more than the 120,000 ft anticipated) and the diver, Felix Baumgartner landed safely. The mission also had a chance to also result in a human breaking the speed barrier during freefall, which Felix Baumgartner did successfully. The top speed reached by Baumgartner during the freefall was 833.9 miles per hour, which translates to Mach 1.24 (the speed of sound is Mach 1).
More information about the Red Bull Stratos mission can be found at the Red Bull Stratos website.
Check your calculations for his reported top speed. One or both of your figures are erroneous.
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Brian - Staff Writer replied:
October 14th, 2012 at 6:17 pm
I’ve dug around and a top speed of 833 mph seems to be the official figure – in what way do you find the figures to be erroneous?
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