First Jump From Stratosphere

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30884, 18 October 1965, Page 15

First Jump From Stratosphere

(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright)

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 17.

A veteran parachutist will try to break the speed of sound on Monday in making a free fall from the stratosphere.

The parachutist, Nicholas Piantanida, aged 33, will be taken by balloon to a . altitude of more than 118.000 feet above an airfield. Mr Piantanida, a licensed parachutist with more than 400 jumps to his record, will jump from the gondola. He will wear a pressure suit and will carry oxygen, two parachutes, a tape recorder, camera and other equipment. Mr Piantanida and his equipment will weigh about 3751 b.

His parachute, triggered by a barometic device, will open automatically between 4000 and 3500 feet. The balloon will be destroyed by a radiodetonated explosion about an hour after the jump. First Of Series

The jump will be th' firstknown attempt of an individual to break the speed of sound with gravity as the onlyforce.

The leap will be the first in “Project StratoJump,” a series of high altitude jumps planned as privately-spon-sored experiments to test

and improve methods of bailout survival. One aim is to prove a trained parachutist can freefall from altitudes above 100,000 feet without the use of stablising devices. Another is to investigate the effects of sonic speeds on the human body.