Kittinger and Baumgartner: on a mission to the edge of space
On 15 March 2012, Felix Baumgartner jumped from 71 500 feet [1], a test jump as part of his attempt to beat the earlier record set by Joe Kittinger, who jumped from 102 800 feet in 1960, as part of the US space programme [2] The ascent to these elevations in a helium balloon, followed by free fall, with varying temperatures and speed of sound, and increasing air resistance and density, can lead te
