Is it possible to actually jump from the space shuttle in the upper atmosphere and sky dive to earth and live?

Question

Is it possible to actually jump from the space shuttle in the upper atmosphere and sky dive to earth and live?

Answer 1

No.

the main reason has already been explained; you would burn up in the atmosphere. that's why when you see old footage of the Apollo space vehicles jettisoning part of the ship, we didn't worry about them landing somewhere and killing someone because we knew it would burn up.

Answer 2

do you have an oxygen mask with you? are you crossing the o-zone layer to get fried like an egg? How far are you planning to freefall? where the heck did you get a ticket to ride in a space shuttle-I want one too.=> aloha taz

Answer 3

YES,

My brother and I tried this exact experiment by jumping from the roof into the swimming pool.  We lived, and I assume the principle is the same from jumping a greater distance into a large body of water like the ocean.  HA ha!  Or were you looking for a serious answer?

Answer 4

There are no suits that are resistant to the massive increase in temperature once you start burning up in the atmosphere, the incredible speed at which you'll fall can injure you also...when they do invent a suit...then I'll be the first to try!

Answer 5

Yeah you could probably do it, but the government would step in and say no. But if they didnt, i doubt you would be alive after you did it.

Answer 6

I would be willing to bet no, but if anyone would like to try to prove me wrong just jump on the next shuttle flight and find out.

Answer 7

I don't believe so due to the fact of our atmosphere is so efficient at protecting our Earth from foreign matters that I intend to believe you may experience a little heat coming down from that altitude.  Maybe enough heat that you'll never hit ground before you're completely disintegrated.

Answer 8

ok think about it...if a space shuttle has to be special plated just to make it through...what would it do to the human body... not to mention temperature, velocity, and pressure.

Answer 9

No you would burn up on entry into the apmosphere, that is if you had an oxygen with you.  Without it you would die and with oxygen you would blow up.

The heat shields on the shuttle are there for a reason.

Answer 10

It is not currently practical to do so.    To make it to earth safely, you need:

1) A space/pressure suit with some heating/cooling ability and

2) Enough air to breathe until you get close enough that the air is breathable.

3) A parachute/parafoil, something to slow you down so you don't burn to a cinder on the way down.  Note that the slower you go, the more air you need for the trip.

Assuming you could attach enough batteries and air tanks to a space suit to make it,  it would probably be quite a bundle.

The environmental requirements (air, temperature) to get you to the ground safely may so demanding that nothing much smaller than the space shuttle will do.

Answer 11

of course it's possible, anythings possible, but it's highly unlikely. You would go through freezing temperatures, move through different levels of the atmosphere very quickly, very difficult breathing issues and a very fast journey down to the ground. But if you manage to survive those and can maneuver a parachute at the right time, then it's possible. (About a 5% chance of surviving)

Answer 12

I'm sure you'l land safe into the pacific ocean....Just remember to align your jump to ensure you land into the pacific.. even if the ozone burns you the salty pacific can help you cool down... let me know once you done with it

Answer 13

yes

you would have to were a a pressure suit due to low pressure

and you will actually exceed the speed of sound   on your decent

also it was calculated that a falling human body can start to rotate at 465 rpm which would knock you out so you would have to have a second smaller parachute to stabilize you

this was demonstrated by Joseph Kittinger who set the world record for highest sky dive

Answer 14

NO! First you'd explode, without a pressurized suit.

Then you'd freeze in orbit, without adequate heating.

With retro-rockets to slow you down, you'd burn up on re-entry.

These are the challenges which the shuttle faces every time.

Answer 15

From Earth's upper atmosphere, yes, provided you had the proper equipment (protective clothing, bottled oxygen, a parachute).  

Although I'm not sure you could actually jump from the space shuttle.  Other high altitude parachuters have jumped from weather balloons.  

Check out "Project Excelsior" from the late 1950's-early 60's ... an Air Force colonel set the world record for the highest parachute jump.

Answer 16

no.

You'd enter the atmosphere too fast for the heat to dissipate from your body. (Even with a suit)

Actually, your insides would be cooked before you eventually burn up like a meteor.

You could be attached to a large metallic drogue chute, with lots of metal wires holding it, the drogue being in the shape of a shuttlecock (like a badminton "bird"); if you sit inside a conical shield held by the drogue's metal wires (you would be held in place by material that does not conduct heat).  You would need a suit (for air and for heat until you enter the atmosphere).

The metal wires are needed to rapidly dissipate the heat before it affects you inside the conical shield (and that is why the inside supports can NOT be metal).

Except that I would not call that skydiving anymore.

At some point, you'd have to exit the shield.  At that point real skydiving might begin, until you open your parachute.

What? You didn't bring one?

Ouch.

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If you simply step off the shuttle, you'd be simply on a parallel orbit.  It would take forever for your orbit to decay before you actually fell towards Earth.

So, let's equip the cargo bay with a catapult (they use one to launch satellites from the shuttle), except that it has to "accelerate" you backwards:  in this way, your speed (shuttle minus catapult) will now be too little to maintain you in orbit, and you will fall towards Earth.

Answer 17

Theoretically yes, but you'd need a way to slow your decent to avoid burning up in the atmosphere.

Answer 18

Even in the upper atmosphere you would need a space suit at least.  

Assuming you do not burn up since you are already in our atmosphere, I still think your odds are very slim from up there.

Answer 19

Probably not because you would be going through dramatic changes in pressure and you would probably get the bends, like when scuba divers don't climatize and they get all sick...otherwise i'm pretty sure that it would work. You would just be floating for a long, long time. Oh and also you may not breath so you'd probably die...

Answer 20

With the right equipment, it should be.  Keep everything in mind, though:

1) You're going to need an oxygen supply for pretty much the entire trip.

2) The friction during re-entry will be just as bad on you as it is on anything else.  Moving at around 20,000 miles an hour in the atmosphere builds lots of heat, you need a way to dissipate it.

3) Because of #2, you won't be able to see much for a good deal of the time.  During the whole entry process, your heat shield will be putting out lots of flame, which will impair your vision of the surroundings.

4) You're going to need a really strong parachute, or some sort of extendable wing to slow yourself down for the final amount.  This will allow you to land safely when you finally make it to the ground.

Those are the major important factors, keep them in mind when building your suit, and you should make it!  That sounds so cool.  Lots of science fiction stories involve people doing this, I think it would be great to do it in real life.

Answer 21

No.  The shuttle must enter the atmosphere at a particular angle of attack.  If that angle is too shallow, the shuttle will "bounce" off the upper atmosphere into space like a rock skipping across a lake.  If, on the other hand, it enters at too steep an angle, it will burn to a crisp because of the excessive heat caused by friction between the surface of the shuttle and the air molecules.  A "cosmic skydiver," if you will, would enter the atmosphere at a very steep angle without a heat shield of any kind and evaporate upon entering the atmosphere at over 17,000 mph.  Don't try it!

Answer 22

The Space Shuttle orbits the earth at roughly 18,000 MPH.  If you made it as far as the atmosphere, the heat and friction would cause your body to disintegrate.

Answer 23

the crew of Apollo 11 and subsequent astronauts had faked their orbit around the Moon and their walk on its surface by trick photography, and they never got more than halfway to the Moon. the radiation belts prevented humans from reaching the moon.

Lack of stars in the pictures and collins saying he didnt remember seeing any stars is quite telling.

The quality of the photographs is implausibly high.

The color and angle of shadows and light are inconsistent. often showing a second or third light source was used.

Identical backgrounds in photos are listed as taken miles apart.

Cold-War prestige

Money — NASA raised approximately $30 billion to go to the Moon. in the 60's that a lot of tax payer money.

Problems early in the space program were insurmountable

To fulfill President Kennedy's 1961 promise "to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

still some think it was real and maybe the video and photography was faked to show the world.

only Nasa and the astronauts know the truth.

maybe china will find out for us soon. if they don't see anything on our landing sights ,nasa will be exposed.

Answer 24

The shuttle speed is about 12,000 mph when it breaks orbit.  Anything hitting the atmosphere from space, like meteorites will burn yellow hot on the way down.  The fillings in your teeth may be the only thing left of you to hit the ground.

Answer 25

look up joseph kittinger on wikipedia it was done in 1960 he dived from 30 km above the earth and google video first man in space it will show you a vid of it

Answer 26

If you're talking just from the upper atmosphere, and not from orbital altitudes, yes - it's actually been done. Not from the space shuttle, but from a vast balloon ascending to 31km (19.5 miles). In 1960 Captain Joseph Kittinger of the US Air Force ascended to that height, wearing a pressure suit, and jumped. It took him fourteen and a half minutes to fall the distance. It's not a jump from space, but anything above the troposphere (7 miles / 11km up) is considered the "upper atmosphere".

There was an attempt this year to break the record and skydive from 25 miles (40km), but this failed when the balloon came free before departure.

Answer 27

probably not. The atmosphere would burn you up in a milisecond.

Answer 28

If that was possible then everyone wud want to skidive off the moon

but its not

as youd either roast like a chicken

or choke to death =)

Answer 29

I don't believe it would be possible because even gigantic meteors that come into the atmosphere usually burn up passing through the atmosphere and considering that us, humans, are much less dense, sturdy, and smaller, I would bet that we would not make it because the friction of the Earth's atmosphere would be too great.

Answer 30

Are you kidding? NO.  The temperature in outerspace is too cold for a human to live plus there isn't any oxygen.  Even if the temp was warm enough and there was oxygen, the heat of the ozone layer would kill you.

Answer 31

remember last year? there was problem with the heat shield on the space shuttle.  They had to repair it in space.  

I've been to NASA.  Each of those tiles take like 3-6 months to build.  If the shuttle can't survive without those heat shields, you wouldn't.