Faster Than Sound, Daredevil Parachute Jumps from the Edge of the Space

This article discusses the kinematics of a parachutist making a very-high-altitude jump. The effect of altitude on the density of air, on the gravitational field strength of the Earth, and on the atmosphere’s temperature has been taken into account in our analysis. The well-known equations of classical mechanics governing the selected topic have been solved numerically by using the mathematical software Mathcad. Especially, the possibility of a person exceeding the speed of sound during their fall has been considered in our analysis. The effect of the sound barrier is taken into account so that the shape factor of the falling body is given as a speed-dependent function, which reaches its maximum value at Mach 1.0. The obtained results have been found to be highly consistent with the available experimental data on some high-altitude jumps. The data published on the famous jump of Captain Joseph Kittinger has been analyzed very carefully, and although our calculations reproduced the reported values for most parts, some interesting inconsistencies were also discovered. Kittinger jumped from a gondola attached to a helium-filled balloon from a record-high altitude of 102,800 ft, or 31,330 m, in August 1960. We also made numerical analysis on the high-altitude jump of Felix Baumgartner. He bailed out from his gondola at the record-high altitude of 39.0 km in October 2012.