A leap from the edge of the earth…

Last night we all gathered around our computer to watch Felix fling himself into space and a free fall of 24 miles….t-w-e-n-t-y…f-o-u-r…

After getting all excited and thrilled about it the sudden reality that we might actually just be watching a suicide sort of made me feel reeeeaaallly uncomfortable. There was a VERY REAL possibility that it may have just become that…some of the risks he faced were:

1. Flat Spin

The problem: In low air pressure, high-altitude skydivers risk going into something called “flat spin.” In this position, the body rotates horizontally — imagine a record spinning on a record player. An uncontrolled flat spin could render Baumgartner unconscious, his blood rushing to his extremities, including his head. There, blood could pool in his eyes, causing temporary blindness. Worse, the force of the spin and the rush of blood to the head could cause massive brain bleeding and clotting, which could easily be fatal.

The prevention: If Baumgartner’s spin gets out of a control, a special elongated parachute will deploy to help stabilize his descent.

2. Boiling Blood

The problem: At the edge of space, from which Baumgartner will make his leap, the air pressure is less than 1 percent of that on Earth’s surface. Above 63,000 feet (19,200 meters), the lack of pressure can cause air bubbles to form in the blood, a condition referred to as blood boiling. A bubble large enough to stop the blood from flowing in a major artery could be fatal, and sudden decompression can expand and then collapse the lungs. Depressurization can also cause the body to swell in seconds, as occurred in 1960 when Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger Jr. jumped from 102,800 feet (31,133 m). When Kittinger’s glove failed to pressurize properly, his hand swelled to twice its size on  descent. [8 Craziest Skydives Ever]

The prevention: Baumgartner’s full-pressure suit and helmet are designed to protect the skydiver as he falls. The team has emergency medical protocols in place should Baumgartner arrive on the ground in crisis.

3. Freezing

The problem: The upper atmosphere is a very cold place. The Red Bull Stratos team estimates Baumgartner will step out of his capsule into temperatures of minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 degrees Celsius). As he plummets, he could experience minus 70 degrees F (minus 56 degrees C) or lower. In such cold air, Baumgartner’s body would be unable to maintain a core temperature of 98.6 degrees F (37 degrees C) for long. When body temperature drops to 82 degrees F (28 degrees C), unconsciousness can occur. Death is likely when the body dips below 70 degrees F (21 degrees C).

The prevention: Baumgartner’s suit should protect him from temperatures as low as minus 90 F (minus 68 C).

4. Shock Waves

The problem: As Baumgartner’s body approaches the speed of sound, he’ll be playing with someserious forces. Shock-shock interaction occurs when shock waves, also known as sonic booms, in the air collide, in this case the stratosphere that Baumgartner is descending through. Such forces could buffet Baumgartner and possibly endanger him or his pressurized suit. “[Baumgartner will] be colliding with the gas so fast that it can’t flow out of his way because it effectively doesn’t know that he’s coming,” physicist Louis Bloomfield of the University of Virginia, told LiveScience’s sister site Life’s Little Mysteries.

The prevention: According to the Red Bull Stratos team, the thin air is an advantage in this case. Shock waves are less powerful when the air is less dense.

5. Hitting the ground

The problem: Hitting the ground without slowing down enough from a 120,000-foot fall is a very bad idea.

The prevention: Should Baumgartner fall unconscious during his skydive, his emergency parachute will deploy automatically. Unfortunately, he may not be out of the woods in that scenario, as he will be unable to steer his landing or adjust his speed in the final moments of the fall. That could make for a difficult return to Earth.

Suddenly i started to edge out the room and as the door opened and he stood up and was about to jump I started to panic a bit…’does he have kids?’ i said to my OH. Wondering bleakly if there was in fact a couple of kids watching their father jump to his death somewhere 24 miles below.  It transpires that he doesn’t but his mother and father and other family were watching. Oh for the love of God…his poor mother….it churns my stomach just thinking about it. I did, i have to admit, squeal a bit when he jumped.

This afternoon we (me and the toddler) discovered when she asked to watch the ‘spaceman flying’ again that when you search on youtube for Felix he is actually quite a infamous base jumper and there are hundreds of video clips of him throwing himself off buildings, into deep valleys and off huge chunks of rock..so im thinking that his mother must be a little bit anesthetised to the pure terror of watching your child do something so INSANE! I had also assumed that he was an astronaut with a bit of a thing for free fall but if you watch some of those video you realise he is clearly just an adrenaline junkie who just wanted to go that bit further and get some pictures that not many people have on their screensaver right? 🙂

I still think he is crazy and want to give him a good slap for putting his poor family through the real possibility that they would watch the death of their loved one alongside the 8 million plus viewers on youtube. But I am in awe of the courage and bravery it must have taken just to take that step.

We could maybe all do with a little bit of his crazy…?

Im linking up today with my buddy Sarah Miles over at her fabulous blog Hello Wall. Go check it out by clicking on the wee box below.