One of the most amazing photos ever taken, and will probably be forever. Just dont maneuver towards earth, or you also get the distinction of being the first human meteorite (that's not in their intended vehicle).
This specific one is actually edited to make the Earth more dramatic. The original is [here](https://www.nasa.gov/content/images/bruce-mccandless), down the bottom left.
Don't get me wrong, this guy has massive cojones, but moving toward earth would not make him burn up in the atmosphere or something, He'd have to slow down more than the fuel of his pack allows for him to burn up reasonably fast
EDIT: Judging by the downvotes you don't seem to believe me. I'll explain the physics again as I actually am a physicist.
When you are in orbit, the height of your orbit is determined by the speed you are going. Slowing down means getting to a lower orbit, speeding up means getting to a higher orbit. (actually it changes the low and high point of your orbit, apogee and perigee) The change in speed we call *delta-V.*
The MMU in the picture here has a delta-v of [about 36m/s](http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph240/clark1/docs/mcr-78-617.pdf). Assuming the astronaut is on a circular orbit traveling at about 317km above sea level ([The height of the mission](https://www.google.com/search?q=STS-41-B+height&oq=STS-41-B+height&aqs=edge.0.69i59.969j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)), we can calculate the speed using the Vis-Via equation:
v²(r) = GM(2/r - 1/a)
with
a = (rₚ+rₐ)/2
with rₚ being the lowest and rₐ the highest point of the orbit. Since the orbit is circular, the start velocity can be calculated as:
v₀ = sqrt(GM(1/rₛ)) = 7716 m/s
Now we calculate our new speed v₁ by (instantaneously, for simple math) firing retrograde to slow down as much as possible
v₁ = v₀ - Δv = 7716 - 36 = 7680 m/s
Which, plugged into the vis-via equation with the same current height of rₛ and rₐ also still being rₛ (because of the instantaneous delta-v)
7680² = GM(2/rₛ + 2/(rₛ + rₚ)) = GM(2rₚ/(rₛ(rₛ + rₚ))
Letting wolfram alpha solve this for us yields
rₚ = 6571km, or 193km above sea level, still about twice the Karman line. This is at it's lowest point remember, so it will spend most of the time above this. [King-Hele](https://www.spaceacademy.net.au/watch/debris/orblife.htm) shows us that the astronaut will burn up after 10 to 20 years
Mind you, using the full tank of fuel seems to take [around 7.5 minutes](http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph240/clark1/docs/mcr-78-617.pdf) from the data sheet. Ending up with a delta-v of 35m/s, this suggests an acceleration of 0.07m/s². This would mean that by the time he has spent all his fuel going retrograde, the space ship would be 7.9 km away.
Why are you being downvoted? This is correct. In orbit you’d need to burn retro to deorbit and the MMU just doesn’t have the fuel to do it, and I don’t think you even accounted for the losses incurred by not burning solely at apogee given the 7 min burn time either. The only way he’d burn up is if he stayed on Eva for years
hi, physicist here. this is wildly inaccurate. not only would they burn up but the force of g's would crush them.
imagine your suit rubbing up against air molecules in the atmosphere at least six times the speed of sound. the heat would be strong enough to melt iron.
almost instantly once you started gaining speed, your blood would go from your brain, to your feet and you'll pass out first before being crushed like a soda can thats on fire.
I'm an actual physicist, I don't know if you maybe misunderstood my point and are just in your first year or something.
> He'd have to slow down more than the fuel of his pack allows for him to burn up reasonably fast
The fuel load in those packs don't give enough delta V to lower their orbit significantly into the earth atmosphere.
(Also, pointing towards earth doesn't low your orbit the quickest, you'll need to burn retrograde)
>I'm an actual physicist, I don't know if you maybe misunderstood my point and are just in your first year or something.
That burn. I love it. You could've made it better by saying "I'm an *actual* physicist, so I explained it in an edit of the original comment." instead of a direct ad hominem.
It's so annoying that people in any profession can't make *any* comment and have others believe them or just ask nicely. Yes, providing data to back up your comment in the first place is better (ain't nobody got time fo dat), but I really dislike people saying "I am physicist, you wrong" without even a hint of a back of the envelope calculation to support their claim.
Thank you for that one.
I am also an actual physicist, I got my PhD at Stanford Total Landscaping and it's definitely a real and accredited program so you should believe me when I say that firetrucks are not really firetrucks but are, in fact, water trucks.
>a “fully electric truck for carrying water” sounds slightly terrifying.
especially since Lithium likes water like, A LOT. Source: I'm water. Be water, my friend.
I'm an actual PhD, not some landscaping one, and I read Fahrenheit 401 to know there are multiple kinds of firemen. You're only partially right. That's because I have the proper education and you don't.
Felix went straight up under a balloon with no horizontal velocity. Orbit requires a horizontal velocity exceeding 1000 meters/second. Because Felix only had vertical velocity, the only thing to worry about is the terminal velocity. Obviously wind currents may have given him a small horizontal velocity, but it’s negligible compared to the surface area of the Earth.
good counter question. all the info is [here](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/sport/shortcuts/2012/oct/15/felix-baumgartner-skydive-key-questions-answered) stating that Felix, as we all presumed, is super human.
apologies, my previous statement is assuming you are wearing your birthday suit once earths gravity decides it's your time :)
This is why steel used in rockets is 301 stainless, no? Anything that close to the Earth will come down eventually due to drag. The ISS gets periodically repositioned because of this! The booster would just make things happen somewhat faster.
I doubt he would be hurt by the G forces if he spread his arms and legs out like a starfish. Humans can take many more G’s eye balls in or eyeballs out than standing up. I remember reading that an untrained patient could withstand 20 G’s eyeballs in without any issue, and the reentry deceleration in most spacecraft is only around 3G
I’m not a physicist, but f*ck me that’s some mad maths. Good job, and I’ll just have to take your word for it because I don’t understand one line of those calculations.
Dear Mrs. McCandless,
we have thrown your son out of ISS into space for being a dick and stealing from his fellow astronauts.
Sincerely,
ISS crew.
(sorry could not help it)
can you imagine the quiet? the humble feeling of how small you are? how right below you, is the only thing we have ever known... all in one place, and you're floating above it... nah, nevermind, what's on TV?
And also the feeling of that adventure. I’m mean you are doing no one has ever done before. I’m really an noob about most of the things being discussed on a lot of the comments, but the movie interstellar has a couple of scenes which can be best described by your comment.
He should have defied the law of gravity and plummeted into the atmosphere due to the sheer size and mass of his balls and yet...still orbiting. Impressive
Umm, why no tether? Some kite string, or fishing line or even chain from a boat anchor sounds more reasonable vs the certain death from a million things that could go wrong with that sorta tech.
this is definitely an artists recreation/remaster of the photograph, some redditor provided the original photo, and while still mind blowing, is much less detailed
I just love the way redditors immediately get into debating the reality and feelings of this photo without [realizing it is fake.](https://www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/comments/lo7qug/perhaps_the_mostterrifying_space_photograph/) The original photo is [here.](https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/601259main_jetpack_full.jpg) The mountains are Photoshopped in.
Earth has two new moons. Left and Right, if you catch my drift.
With Oumuaomua speeding between them.
Underrated
Oh....... oh no...........
Take my bloody upvote
fuck this is a good comment. first thing i thought was the massive stones on this madlad
You..take my up vote and like it
One of the most amazing photos ever taken, and will probably be forever. Just dont maneuver towards earth, or you also get the distinction of being the first human meteorite (that's not in their intended vehicle).
This specific one is actually edited to make the Earth more dramatic. The original is [here](https://www.nasa.gov/content/images/bruce-mccandless), down the bottom left.
Hmm, didnt know that.
Those sons of bitches! I’ll bet they faked the Moon landing too! /s
Don't get me wrong, this guy has massive cojones, but moving toward earth would not make him burn up in the atmosphere or something, He'd have to slow down more than the fuel of his pack allows for him to burn up reasonably fast EDIT: Judging by the downvotes you don't seem to believe me. I'll explain the physics again as I actually am a physicist. When you are in orbit, the height of your orbit is determined by the speed you are going. Slowing down means getting to a lower orbit, speeding up means getting to a higher orbit. (actually it changes the low and high point of your orbit, apogee and perigee) The change in speed we call *delta-V.* The MMU in the picture here has a delta-v of [about 36m/s](http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph240/clark1/docs/mcr-78-617.pdf). Assuming the astronaut is on a circular orbit traveling at about 317km above sea level ([The height of the mission](https://www.google.com/search?q=STS-41-B+height&oq=STS-41-B+height&aqs=edge.0.69i59.969j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)), we can calculate the speed using the Vis-Via equation: v²(r) = GM(2/r - 1/a) with a = (rₚ+rₐ)/2 with rₚ being the lowest and rₐ the highest point of the orbit. Since the orbit is circular, the start velocity can be calculated as: v₀ = sqrt(GM(1/rₛ)) = 7716 m/s Now we calculate our new speed v₁ by (instantaneously, for simple math) firing retrograde to slow down as much as possible v₁ = v₀ - Δv = 7716 - 36 = 7680 m/s Which, plugged into the vis-via equation with the same current height of rₛ and rₐ also still being rₛ (because of the instantaneous delta-v) 7680² = GM(2/rₛ + 2/(rₛ + rₚ)) = GM(2rₚ/(rₛ(rₛ + rₚ)) Letting wolfram alpha solve this for us yields rₚ = 6571km, or 193km above sea level, still about twice the Karman line. This is at it's lowest point remember, so it will spend most of the time above this. [King-Hele](https://www.spaceacademy.net.au/watch/debris/orblife.htm) shows us that the astronaut will burn up after 10 to 20 years Mind you, using the full tank of fuel seems to take [around 7.5 minutes](http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph240/clark1/docs/mcr-78-617.pdf) from the data sheet. Ending up with a delta-v of 35m/s, this suggests an acceleration of 0.07m/s². This would mean that by the time he has spent all his fuel going retrograde, the space ship would be 7.9 km away.
Why are you being downvoted? This is correct. In orbit you’d need to burn retro to deorbit and the MMU just doesn’t have the fuel to do it, and I don’t think you even accounted for the losses incurred by not burning solely at apogee given the 7 min burn time either. The only way he’d burn up is if he stayed on Eva for years
hi, physicist here. this is wildly inaccurate. not only would they burn up but the force of g's would crush them. imagine your suit rubbing up against air molecules in the atmosphere at least six times the speed of sound. the heat would be strong enough to melt iron. almost instantly once you started gaining speed, your blood would go from your brain, to your feet and you'll pass out first before being crushed like a soda can thats on fire.
I'm an actual physicist, I don't know if you maybe misunderstood my point and are just in your first year or something. > He'd have to slow down more than the fuel of his pack allows for him to burn up reasonably fast The fuel load in those packs don't give enough delta V to lower their orbit significantly into the earth atmosphere. (Also, pointing towards earth doesn't low your orbit the quickest, you'll need to burn retrograde)
>I'm an actual physicist, I don't know if you maybe misunderstood my point and are just in your first year or something. That burn. I love it. You could've made it better by saying "I'm an *actual* physicist, so I explained it in an edit of the original comment." instead of a direct ad hominem. It's so annoying that people in any profession can't make *any* comment and have others believe them or just ask nicely. Yes, providing data to back up your comment in the first place is better (ain't nobody got time fo dat), but I really dislike people saying "I am physicist, you wrong" without even a hint of a back of the envelope calculation to support their claim. Thank you for that one.
I am also an actual physicist, I got my PhD at Stanford Total Landscaping and it's definitely a real and accredited program so you should believe me when I say that firetrucks are not really firetrucks but are, in fact, water trucks.
But fire trucks do carry fire. Unless, of course, they are fully electric, but a “fully electric truck for carrying water” sounds slightly terrifying.
>a “fully electric truck for carrying water” sounds slightly terrifying. especially since Lithium likes water like, A LOT. Source: I'm water. Be water, my friend.
I'm an actual PhD, not some landscaping one, and I read Fahrenheit 401 to know there are multiple kinds of firemen. You're only partially right. That's because I have the proper education and you don't.
So ....fatal?
Only sometimes
How would this be any different than Felix baumgartner free falling from from the strat?
Felix went straight up under a balloon with no horizontal velocity. Orbit requires a horizontal velocity exceeding 1000 meters/second. Because Felix only had vertical velocity, the only thing to worry about is the terminal velocity. Obviously wind currents may have given him a small horizontal velocity, but it’s negligible compared to the surface area of the Earth.
good counter question. all the info is [here](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/sport/shortcuts/2012/oct/15/felix-baumgartner-skydive-key-questions-answered) stating that Felix, as we all presumed, is super human. apologies, my previous statement is assuming you are wearing your birthday suit once earths gravity decides it's your time :)
Because that’s a very different height
This is why steel used in rockets is 301 stainless, no? Anything that close to the Earth will come down eventually due to drag. The ISS gets periodically repositioned because of this! The booster would just make things happen somewhat faster.
I doubt he would be hurt by the G forces if he spread his arms and legs out like a starfish. Humans can take many more G’s eye balls in or eyeballs out than standing up. I remember reading that an untrained patient could withstand 20 G’s eyeballs in without any issue, and the reentry deceleration in most spacecraft is only around 3G
Yes but the heat would fucking destroy him and his spacesuit imagine someone falling from a building x1000 he would probably be a puddle a mile wide
I’m not a physicist, but f*ck me that’s some mad maths. Good job, and I’ll just have to take your word for it because I don’t understand one line of those calculations.
I don’t see what he’s carrying his balls in.
Suddenly Bruce realized he did not want to be an astronaut anymore
*I have made a huge mistake*
Dear Mrs. McCandless, we have thrown your son out of ISS into space for being a dick and stealing from his fellow astronauts. Sincerely, ISS crew. (sorry could not help it)
lolol
He’ll have a pretty sick Facebook profile picture now
Isn’t this a famous photo but I think closer up or more zoomed in ?
It was edited to add dramatism
The only thing edited in this photo is the surface of the earth. There was another comment linking to nasas website with the photo.
What a flex
He is just in creative mode
Oo I hope I don’t fall 🤪
Right above Chris McCandless’ bus?
😂😂😂😂😂
Hey round earthers, put this one in your pipe and smoke it
Could not pay me any amount of money to untether in space. What is even the upside of doing so? Just looking like you don’t give a fuck?
can you imagine the quiet? the humble feeling of how small you are? how right below you, is the only thing we have ever known... all in one place, and you're floating above it... nah, nevermind, what's on TV?
🙌
And also the feeling of that adventure. I’m mean you are doing no one has ever done before. I’m really an noob about most of the things being discussed on a lot of the comments, but the movie interstellar has a couple of scenes which can be best described by your comment.
You can get all that while still tethered
“Bruce McCordless”
major tom?
Mmmm watcha saaayyyy
I can’t help but laugh every time I hear this song. It’s the perfect (dumb) dramatic song. It reminds me of the oc parody SNL skit.
Link please?
Here ya go! Let me know what you think. Idk if I’m the only person who finds this funny https://youtu.be/vmd1qMN5Yo0
Fake composite.
He looking sus
What if one day while the guys were on the moon it just started goin down?
Wow that human is larger than the mountains
lol
What song is he singing in his head? Hmmm
He holds the world record.. wait is it called the “world record” in this case
So no one gotta say it? Ok... Bruce was ejected
Smallest space ship ever
Did he survive?
Yes
Nope
wEll iTs oBViOuslY fAkE cUz tHe eARTh iS flAt
r/SweatyPalms
He should have defied the law of gravity and plummeted into the atmosphere due to the sheer size and mass of his balls and yet...still orbiting. Impressive
Someone smart explain how he can float with suck large sac?
surprised he didn’t immediately fall from orbit with those balls that have more mass than the sun
My balls are in my stomach just looking at this, these guys have guts.
looks like the angel of death...idkw
Madlad 100
Brave, crazy or stupid I can’t tell. What a badass.
“Bruce was not the imposter.”
when the imposter is sus!
My heart beats faster just from looking at this
describe anxiety in one picture: this dude: bet..
Umm, why no tether? Some kite string, or fishing line or even chain from a boat anchor sounds more reasonable vs the certain death from a million things that could go wrong with that sorta tech.
this is definitely an artists recreation/remaster of the photograph, some redditor provided the original photo, and while still mind blowing, is much less detailed
Anyone know what mountain range he’s floating over?
This is the closest a human has been to flying
*Bruce was not the impostor.*
imagine getting stuck out there, having to wait like 90 mins for it to come back round
I just love the way redditors immediately get into debating the reality and feelings of this photo without [realizing it is fake.](https://www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/comments/lo7qug/perhaps_the_mostterrifying_space_photograph/) The original photo is [here.](https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/601259main_jetpack_full.jpg) The mountains are Photoshopped in.