Felix Baumgartner - The Man Who Fell To Earth. A Report by Mission Control

On 14th October 2012 Felix Baumgartner, aged 43, flew into the Stratosphere over New Mexico, USA in a helium , wearing a pressure suit. He jumped from 36402 m from the balloon’s capsule, free falling for around 6 minutes then using a to land on Earth again. The whole jump took about 10 minutes. Felix broke the on his descent with a top speed of 1342.8 km/hour, the first human to do this without an engine. He also broke the world records for the highest piloted balloon flight and highest altitude jump.

Lots has been written and said about Felix’s amazing descent to Earth but not so much about his journey upwards in the balloon and what would have happened if Felix hadn’t jumped when he did and just carried on upwards to the Exosphere.

Looking at the diagram there are 5 main layers of the atmosphere. The balloon started off at ground level in the Troposphere. The Troposphere goes up for about 10km. Nearly all weather happens here, as 99% of water vapour is found in the Troposphere. As you climb higher in the Troposphere air pressure drops and temperatures drop too. Felix might have noticed the temperature getting a bit colder at this point.

Now Felix would have moved into the Stratosphere. This goes from the top of the Troposphere to about 50km above ground. The ozone layer is found here. Ozone molecules in this layer absorb high energy UV light from the Sun and convert this energy into heat. The Stratosphere is the opposite of the Troposphere and gets hotter the higher you go. The rising temperature and higher altitude means there is a lack of turbulence and up draft that would be found in the Troposphere - that’s why passenger planes fly in the lower Stratosphere to give a smoother ride. Its around the middle of the Stratosphere that Felix made his jump. He might have felt the rising temperature as he left the capsule.

But what if Felix hadn’t made his jump at this point and the balloon had carried on upwards? The next part of the atmosphere is the Mesosphere which goes up to about 85km above Earth. The temperature now gets colder again and has the coldest temperature in the Earth’s atmosphere - around -90° C at the top of this layer. The air is too thin to breathe and air pressure starts to fall. At the bottom of the Mesosphere the air pressure is less than 1% of that on the ground, and it continues to drop the higher you go. Felix might have been OK at this point inside the capsule if he had breathing apparatus and protection against the cold temperature. He would also have needed this support from his suit to survive on leaving the capsule to start his descent.

Moving up again we reach the Thermosphere at about 85k above Earth where the Mesosphere ends. Here high energy X-rays and UV radiation from the Sun are absorbed into the Thermosphere raising the temperature to 100s and sometimes 1000s of degrees. But the air here is so thin it would feel freezing cold to Felix. The Thermosphere is more like outer space than a part of the atmosphere, lots of satellites orbit Earth from within the Thermosphere. The amounts of energy coming from the sun vary, so this can change the temperature and height of the Thermosphere. The temperature in the upper Thermosphere can range between 500°C and 2000° C or even higher. The distance from Earth to the top of the Thermosphere can be between 500 and 1000km. The Northern and Southern lights happen in the Thermosphere. The helium balloon probably wouldn’t survive the extreme temperatures so Felix would need to be in a space rocket at this point so leaving to make a descent could be difficult, but he would have a good view of the Northern / Southern Lights!

Finally, considered to be the final frontier of the Earth’s atmosphere we enter the Exosphere. Here the air is very, very thin, and gradually leaks out into space. There isn’t a clear boundary where the Exosphere ends and space begins but the top has been estimated at between 100,000 km and 190,000 km above Earth. The higher distance is about half way to the Moon! The temperature varies a lot from 0°C to over 1700°C. Felix would definitely need a rocket to survive at this point and would have to become an astronaut rather than a record breaking skydiver.

Felix Baumgartner

Ben Brinsley 8CWL Mission Control