3 ms·

He has a lot of external stuff on his suit I'm worried at Mach 1 it will be torn off.

• SoftwareMaven 14y ago
  That's Mach 1 in nearly no atmosphere. Nothing there to tear stuff off.
  • noinput 14y ago
    That's a really fascinating reality!
  • dhughes 14y ago
    I thought even at that altitude there would still be a significant amount of atmosphere but apparently not. Even 39km there's still a lot of atmosphere to go but I guess it's pretty thin. When interviewed Kittinger said something "To all those who said Baumgartner suit would tear apart I salute you with a middle finger!" I laughed but thought it was unnecessary harsh since at some point he may enter thicker atmospheric region going 1,340km/h. The design of aircraft are angled to near points and aircraft skin of supersonic craft are made of exotic materials to withstand thousands of degrees Celsius. I figured Mach 1 in a bulky suit thin atmosphere or not at some point something may tear, give way or heat up suddenly.
• neurotech1 14y ago
  Not as likely as it sounds. There has been at least one case of a SR-71 pilot ejecting at speed/altitude and making a "safe" ejection, and without everything being torn off. It all depends on the dynamic pressure which is a combination of speed and air density.