Skydiver To Attempt Record 23-Mile Jump Wearing Worcester Company's Suit
WORCESTER (CBS) - A Worcester company is playing a major role in an attempt at a skydiving world record.
Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner will try to complete a skydive 23 miles to Earth from a capsule suspended by a helium balloon over southeastern New Mexico Thursday.
The jump was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but it was post-poned because of high winds.
David Clark Company has created the suit Baumgartner will wear as he jumps. It has specialized in air and space crew protective gear since 1941, designing suits for NASA's Gemini, Apollo and other space shuttle programs.
"We put people in these suits that fly at extreme altitudes every day," Daniel Barry of Daniel Clark Co. told WBZ-TV's Jim Smith Tuesday.
"Vehicles continue to fly higher and faster and it's our job to protect crew members that enter into those challenging environments."
Baumgartner hopes to hit 700 miles an hour and break the sound barrier during his jump, which is being sponsored by Red Bull.
It will take nearly three hours for the balloon to reach 120,000 feet and just about five minutes to free fall to earth.
Baumgartner is attempting to break the record for the highest, fastest free-fall in history.
It was set in August 1960 by Air Force Capt. Joe Kittinger who leapt from an open-air gondola basket that rose to 102,000 feet.
If he does jump, Red Bull will live stream the jump on their Website.
