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Showing posts from October, 2012

Supersonic Skydiving and Startrails

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Your daily dose of inspiration begins here with two phenomenal videos that exemplify the human spirit for adventure and the beauty of our universe. For centuries, people have dreamed of gliding like birds. The sport of skydiving grew in part out of this desire. More than half a century ago during Project Manhigh  and Project Excelsior , humanity pushed this to an extreme with a series of jumps from the edge of space topping out at 31 kilometers altitude by  Joe Kittinger  in 1960. His record remained unchallenged until now. Sponsored by Red Bull Stratos , Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner made his historic stratospheric jump on October 14, 2012. Protected only his pressure suit made by the David Clark Company , he shattered several world records, while battling claustrophobia . Top Speed: 1,342.8 km/hr / 833.9 mi/hr (Mach 1.24 supersonic!) Jump altitude: 39.05 kilometers / 24.26 miles Vertical distance of freefall: 36.53 kilometers / 22.70 miles Total time freefall: 4

Cosmonaut selection criteria

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A pair of interesting infographics came across my dashboard this week. The first one shows how Russia's cosmonaut selection criteria have changed from the early days of space flight to today. Not surprisingly, the health and anthropometric criteria seem to have relaxed, and the demographic has shifted from highly experienced fighter pilots to a wider range of professional backgrounds. How do you measure up? The second infographic details the selection criteria from anthropometrics to physical fitness and "moral-psychological qualities". I find it interesting that the maximum age they will consider is 33, presumably due to the six-year training period and long wait for orbital mission slots. Quite reasonably, they require a college degree plus five years work experience, but it's intriguing that one must be with a company for no less than three years. Part of the fitness test is a 5 km ski race, which makes this long-time cross-country skier happy. You c