CNN 2012-06-02

 Ever, who waits to open his or her parachute, terminal velocity¹ is around 150 m/h. Philex Boundgardner is expected to hit that at around 5000 feet. Of course by then, he’ll already have dropped more than 100,000 feet. Brian Tod dives in the details on this story.

 

Later this summer, Australian daredevil Philex Boundgardner will attempt the longest and highest free fall ever, from about 120,000 feet above sea level. That’s more than 22 miles. If he post it off, he’ll also break the speed of sound. No one’s ever gone outside a plane or a spacecraft to fly more than 690 miles an hour.

 

Some of the more tense moments of this mission will be when Philex Boundgardner steps out of that capsule and into the stratosphere; at the point the only thing protecting him from certain death will be this helmet and this high-pressure space suite². This is similar to ones worn by U2 Spy Plane pilots. But those pilots are above 50,000 feet closer to earth than Philex Boundgardner’s gonna be.

 

There’s only one person alive who can * all this. Retired³ Air Force colonel Joke Kilinger, the man whose record fearless Philex will try to break. Kilinger jumped from 102,000 feet in 1960.

 

I know exactly what **.

 

What is it?

 

It’s a, it’s going to be odd by being in that attitude, and that **. But it is also odd with theirs responsibility those it’s got, * people on the ground **. ** off 4 or 5 years, with goal to ** down, and this hot style look there, you don’t want to hang around, you don’t have to.

 

Like Kilinger, Boundgardner will be taken to the stratosphere in a capsule polled by a helium balloon. It’s a massive undertaking⁴ called the Red Bul Stratos-project.

 

Your first time here, you liked a child like than a **.

 

Yeah, but I was amazed.

 

As Philex, Joe and I moved around the Aerospace⁵ Museum, Phelix said the sight of J G and U G’s space suite scares him. 

 

If you compare to my suite, I’m not sure if I would have done this in the old days with that kind of equipment.

 

Kilinger is now a consultant⁶ on the project, who’s in Boundgardner’s ear on the test jobs.

 

How important is hearing his voice gonna be to you when you’re out there?

 

It’s extremely important, because this is what I figured on my last * when I was going up, sometimes we lost communication for a couple of seconds, and immediately you feel how lonely you feel. You know, so I want to hear that voice, because I’m so used to this. Every time when we have been practicing on the ground, J was talking to me, so I’m so used to this voice and makes me feel safe.

 

A mission that will obviously be tough to top and it doesn’t look like Philex Boundgardner’s going to try to. He says after this jump he will pursue his long time dream of becoming a helicopter rescue pilot.

 

Brian Tod, CNN, Washington.

1 velocity   

n.速度，速率

参考例句：

• Einstein's theory links energy with mass and velocity of light.爱因斯坦的理论把能量同质量和光速联系起来。
• The velocity of light is about 300000 kilometres per second.光速约为每秒300000公里。

2 suite   

n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员

参考例句：

• She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
• That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。

3 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

4 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

5 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

6 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。