Skydiver Felix Baumgartner Breaks Sound Barrier

And so did Chuck Yeager, again, at the age of 89 years for the 65th anniversary of his historic flight!

Performed at the exact same place down to the minute that he did it 65 years ago. Yeager's wife was with him at the airbase.

Two unique historical events tethered together.

I saw that "space jump" live on the Discovery Channel yesterday. Both Mrs. Moosie and I were glued to the boob tube the entire time!

INCREDIBLE!

Glad to see Chuck Yeager at age 89 still up in the air. He's looking rather good sitting in that F-15D!!! I'm so glad that I got to meet him in person some 20 years ago, when he was an honorary guest at our NWM annual airshow! He's an amazing character to say the least!!!! One of the unsung heroes of the Cold War.....

That F-15 sure brings back memories, too. I got the chance to work on the first five F-15s in the USAF inventory, at Edwards AFB, California. Edwards also had an F-111 (for which I originally trained), but the Eagle was just so much more awesome! Agile as all hell! Watched 'em set the world time-to-climb record just a few weeks after the Ruskies set it in their new MiG. Better'n a top-fuel drag race! 30 km altitude in under three minutes! Btw, if memory serves, the *real* Chuck Yeager made a cameo appearance as the bartender in the film 'The Right Stuff.'

That would be the F-15A Streak Eagle that set all of those records.....walloping the Soviet records previously set by the MIG-25 Foxbat. They stripped the paint off of the Eagle right down to BMF, to make it lighter.

Yes, you're correct that Chuck made a few cameo shots as the bartender at Poncho's tavern in the "Right Stuff", one of my favorite movies. Funny how many pilots, be they military, commercial, or private pilots, imitate his West Virginia drawal.... LOL

Stripped all but two triangles on the radome on top of which were stenciled the words "Do Not Paint." Truly!

I don't know about anybody else, but I got worried when he started spinning that he wouldn't be able to stop spinning before he blacked out.

All in all, a ton of money spent............................for publicity?

I watched it with 4 shooting buddies. We all thought the same thing. It looked like the spinning was out of control for a while and would end badly. All in all, fascinating to watch.

So maybe, if nothing else, he's indicated the need to build in "something" to counteract the spinning (for anyone who may need this as an escape route). Perhaps the suit needs mini-chutes fixed to the ankles? - I dunno.

_{If I was just going for publicity, I'd look for something a bit less potentially terminal.}

Ya gotta have air to push against, or rockets, for course/stability control at 20 miles up.

OK - rocket boots. Or something inertial.

Interesting. However, using rocket boots without scorchproof underpants can only end badly. An airtight spacesuit would trap the...never mind.

"An airtight spacesuit would trap the...never mind."

That is called in-flight refueling.

The spin was counteracted by hand and arm movements, so I understand.

At the speed he was traveling you do not need much air to have an impact. The proof is in the fact that he started spinning, which implies some force had to induce the spin, which was atmospheric drag.

He did look stable when he jumped. It would be interesting to see the elevation he was at when the air got dense enough to affect his flight.