Skydiving
The capsule set to carry Felix Baumgartner to the edge of space is officially mission ready.
The Red Bull Stratos science team has confirmed that the capsule delivering Austrian sportsman Felix Baumgartner to the edge of space for his record-breaking freefall attempt is mission ready.
Attached to a helium balloon, the capsule – which took five years to develop and weighs 2,900 pounds fully loaded – will be Baumgartner’s life-support system during his three-hour ascent to 120,000 feet.
Strapped into a chair custom made for his space suit, he’ll face a control panel of 89 switches and one clear round door. While that door gives Baumgartner the best view in the stratosphere, it also puts just half an inch of acrylic between him and the edge of space. When he rolls it open 23 miles above the Earth, he will exit and attempt to become the first person to break the speed of sound in freefall.
Suspended 150 feet below a balloon, the capsule will protect Baumgartner from stratospheric temperatures reaching minus 70 Fahrenheit and offer a stable oxygenated and pressurized environment during the ascent so he has air to breathe and can avoid decompression sickness. The craft will also act as a stable base for his step-off into freefall.
The hostile environment presents a daunting challenge to the electronics, radio communications and camera systems vital to the capsule’s operation. Led by Art Thompson, the mission’s technical project director, the craft was designed and hand-constructed at Sage Cheshire Aerospace, Inc. in Lancaster, California. Leading minds in aerospace engineering collaborated to produce a vessel capable of completing its mission as well as capturing valuable scientific data to advance aerospace research.
Once the capsule has completed its ascent and Baumgartner has safely accomplished his mission, a remote triggering system will release the craft from the balloon. Tracked via a GPS system, a recovery parachute will bring the capsule slowly back to Earth, where the data can be extracted and evaluated.
The mission’s science team opted for a sealed capsule instead of a gondola used by the current record holder, Joe Kittinger, when he jumped from a height of 102,800 feet in 1960. The additional altitude of the Red Bull Stratos mission means that there are exponentially greater hazards from exposure to freezing temperatures, oxygen deprivation and low air pressure. The sealed capsule will protect Baumgartner. He will inflate his pressure suit only as he prepares to exit the craft.
The capsule testing program included initial evaluations at Sage Cheshire Aerospace, followed by a 2011 altitude chamber test verifying the vessel’s integrity in a real-time flight simulation to jump altitude. Following a final phase of egress training, Art Thompson confirmed that the capsule is ready to fly.
Capsule ComponentsStructure The capsule’s design incorporates four key components: the pressure sphere, the cage, the shell and the base with crush pads. Pressure sphere The pressure sphere, with a diameter of 6 feet, contains the flight control panel and instrumentation and is where Baumgartner will be seated during the ascent. Cage The cage surrounds the pressure sphere and supports the capsule overall. The cage frame is the point at which the capsule attaches to the balloon and will bear the load for the parachute system and capsule touchdown. Shell The external shell, 11 feet high and eight feet in diameter at its base, surrounds the pressure sphere and cage. Base and crush pads The eight-foot-diameter base comprises of a two-inch thick aluminum honeycomb panel which protects the capsule from sharp objects during landing and provides a mounting for the balloon system control box and batteries.
.png)
