Chapter 13: Withering Heights

The chapter I found most interesting in Packing for Mars by Mary Roach was chapter 13: Withering Heights. This chapter detailed the Red Bull Stratos Mission testing a modified emergency escape suit. Red Bull sponsored Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner tested the suit. The jump, at 23 miles high, was in the Ferris Skyventure, a vertical wind tunnel a few miles out of Los Angeles and was done to test the suit for aeromedical purposes. Baumgartner was predicted to reach speeds of 690 miles per hour; that’s 570 miles per hour faster than a typical free fall velocity at 120 miles per hour. Roach noted, “No one has ever bailed out in spaceflight emergency, and it isn’t clear how best to do it in all phases of flight” (251). Part of the mission in this chapter was to determine methods for the safety and also to test the new escape suit.

I found chapter 13: Withering Heights the most striking chapter of Packing for Mars because it included a lot of detail on speeds, heights, and a certain quality of athleticism that goes into being an astronaut. While Mary Roach notes that astronauts are not typically skydivers and BASE (Building, Antenna, Span, Earth) jumpers, they still must be able to withstand severe circumstances. This chapter went further to explain the Beaufort Wind Force Scale and the importance of safety when considering jumps from such high altitudes. Having designed for such jumping would be important to NASA and other space agencies around the world in order to protect its astronauts. Moreover, I’m interested in Felix Baumgartner serving a role here that contributed to science and safety. He explained that he was proud of his contributions to safe space travel, but he was more interested in breaking records. This idea really shows how civilians and scientists differ in their goals. While some might be eager to help science, Baumgartner jumps at the opportunity to be a more extreme athlete.