Read the following article about a man who fell to Earth from a height of 40 kilometers, and then complete the notes on the opposite page. THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH

On October 14, 2012, Felix Baumgartner made history as the man who fell to Earth from a height of almost 40 kilometers. During the fall, he became the first person to break the sound barrier on his own without the help of any machine. He made the highest and fastest jump in history, after going up in a capsule, similar to a very small spacecraft. The capsule was lifted by a helium balloon to an altitude of about 40 000 meters. Millions of people around the world watched the journey from pictures taken by a camera that was fixed to the capsule itself. When the capsule reached the required height, viewers could see what Felix saw as he looked down: the round, blue Earth, surrounded by the blackness of space. They then watched as Felix stepped into the empty darkness and fell for more than four minutes. During his fall, he reached a maximum speed of more than 1300 kilometers per hour.

The jump was not without challenging moments. For example, the engineers in charge of the mission considered stopping the jump when the glass shield of his helmet began to be covered with mist during the ascent. Later, a new crisis developed during the jump, when Felix began spinning out of control in the thin air of the stratosphere. Fortunately, as the atmosphere thickened, he managed to stop the spin and fall smoothly. He opened his parachute about one and a half kilometers above the ground and landed safely in the desert.

During the jump, Felix broke the altitude and speed records, which had been set half a century before by Joe Kittinger, a retired Air Force colonel, who is now more than eighty years old. It was Joe’s calm voice that guided Felix through some tense moments. Joe praised Felix for his great courage and determination. “Through Felix, we have fulfilled the aims of the mission. We wanted to test this spacesuit for its strength and protective qualities, and it has passed the test.”

The whole mission involved about 300 people, including engineers and scientists who had been working for five years on the project. Apart from breaking the altitude and speed records, the aim was to see how the equipment was affected by the loss of pressure at extreme heights. The information provided by the jump will help pilots and even space tourists survive in the future if they have to jump out of their spaceships in an emergency.

One particular problem that Felix Baumgartner discovered during tests was that he suffered from panic attacks when he was forced to spend hours inside the pressurized space suit and helmet. He was advised by experts to keep busy all the time in order to take his mind off the jump.

In addition, preparations for the jump did not always go smoothly. Several attempts to inflate the helium balloon, which would lift Felix in his capsule to the required height for the jump, had to be abandoned because of bad weather.

Finally, however, everything was prepared and the mission was completed. Viewers from all around the world watched the live video being broadcast both from the capsule and from mission control in Florida. There were a record eight million people watching the jump at the same time.

You are going to give a talk about Felix Baumgartner and his jump to your school science club. Prepare some notes to use as the basis for your talk.

Make short notes under each heading.

Statistical data about the jump

• The mission involved about 300 people

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Problems before and during the trip

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Aims of the mission

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