When I saw Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner jump from beneath his balloon part of me wanted to have a go. How amazing would that be? I’ve jumped from planes but that was from 12,000 feet and not from something like 120,000 feet (24 miles or almost 40kms). Congratulations to Felix for breaking the speed of sound and a couple of other records – especially after so many years of planning and preparation.
To imagine for just a moment that he kept going – i.e. that he had as his destination the centre of the earth and not the surface of the earth. As it was he was in free fall for just on 4mins 20seconds but if he kept on going to reach the centre of the earth he’d need to freefall for another 32hours. That’s a long way dow.
Here’s a link to a video of Felix’s jump – http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/video/2012/oct/14/felix-baumgartner-skydive-space-video