環(huán)球英語 1387 Felix Baumgartner: Jumping from Space
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Robin Basselin.
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And I’m Mike Procter. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand - no matter where in the world they live.
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It is the fourteenth of October 2012. A man stands high above the earth. He is in a vehicle attached to a large balloon. The balloon has carried him up to the edge of space. The sky above him is black. He can see the curve of the Earth - the Earth looks round, not flat. And Felix Baumgartner is about to jump.
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In this jump, Baumgartner was trying to set a new world record. Today’s Spotlight is on Felix Baumgartner, and his record setting jumps.
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Baumgartner grew up in Austria. He wanted to jump from high places even when he was a child. He told the British newspaper, the Daily Mail:
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‘I wanted to climb everything. I loved to get to the top of a building, a house, or a tree. I loved watching the world from above. I like to be up there as much as I can’.
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As soon as he was old enough, he learned to sky dive. At the age of 16, he jumped from an airplane with a parachute. The cloth parachute opened, and slowed his fall, so that he could reach the ground safely. Later, he joined the army, and learned more parachute skills. Then he made friends with an American who taught him how to ‘BASE jump’. BASE jumping is an extreme sport. BASE jumpers jump off tall structures. Then, they open a parachute at the last minute. It is a very dangerous sport!
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Soon Baumgartner was a world champion BASE jumper. In all, Baumgartner has done more than 2500 jumps! He has set records for the highest BASE jumps, from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the Taipei Tower. He also set a record for the lowest BASE jump. This was a jump from the hand of the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil - it took just two seconds. Baumgartner is a Christian and he left flowers there as a sign of respect.
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In 2005, he decided to do something more difficult. He decided to jump from space - a jump that would be more than 38 kilometers above the earth. Baumgartner hopes that this jump would set two or three world records. No one had ever jumped from this high above the earth. No one had ever fallen faster than the speed of sound. These achievements would give important information to scientists.
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The jump took seven years to plan. Several times, Baumgartner thought about stopping. A friend had a serious accident, and this frightened Baumgartner. He wondered if this jump was too dangerous. He took a ten month break, to consider it. But, in the end, he decided to continue.
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One of the people encouraging Baumgartner was Joe Kittinger. In 1960, Kittinger performed a similar jump. He jumped from a balloon more than 31 kilometres above the Earth. The goal of this jump was to give information to help astronauts to travel safely in space. But Kittinger also set many records. At the age of 81, Kittinger decided to help Baumgartner break these records.
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Baumgartner trained for months. He made test jumps. His crew tested and developed the equipment. Baumgartner learned to wear a special space suit - the kind of clothes an astronaut wears in space. High above the earth, there is very little air. Conditions are dangerous. The space suit was very heavy. It gave Baumgartner oxygen and water. It carried five cameras to record the jump. And it had radio equipment so that Baumgartner could talk to his crew on the ground.
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On the fourteenth of October, the weather was perfect. Baumgartner entered his vehicle, and the balloon rose slowly into the air. Through his radio, Baumgartner talked to Kittinger. Kittinger continued to encourage him.
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Finally, it was time for Baumgartner’s jump. Following Kittinger’s commands, Baumgartner opened the door. He stood at the open window of the vehicle. He raised his right arm. Then he jumped. He jumped from thirty-nine [39] kilometres, higher than anyone has jumped before.
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But then something went wrong. Baumgartner began to turn round very fast. At this speed, his brain could stop working. He was in great danger. But after a few minutes, Baumgartner stopped turning around. Later he told the Daily Telegraph newspaper:
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‘It is like swimming, without touching the water. It is hard because every time you turn, you have to think what to do. I was putting my arm out, then it became worse. I had a lot of pressure in my head. But I was still feeling good. I thought, “I can deal with the situation.” And I did.’
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Although he did not know at the time, he had fallen faster than the speed of sound. He had achieved a speed of one thousand, one hundred and seventy-three [1173] kilometres per hour. It was faster than anyone has fallen before. He had broken another world record.
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But then, Baumgartner could not see out of his space suit. To be safe, he opened his parachute. He had not broken Kittinger’s record fall without a parachute. But when they saw the parachute, everyone on the ground cheered. They knew that Baumgartner was safe. When he reached the ground, the crowd cheered again. Baumgartner’s family held him close. Later that day, he told reporters:
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“When I was standing there on top of the world, I became so humble. I did not think about breaking records anymore. I did not think about gaining scientific information. The only thing I wanted was to come back alive.”
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Felix Baumgartner’s jumps have broken records. He has been honoured as a sportsman. And his space jump has given scientists new information about survival in space. But what will Felix Baumgartner do now? He says he is going to have a quiet life. He plans to return to Austria, get married, and become a helicopter rescue pilot. Do you think his adventures are done?
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The writer of this programme was Shelagh Godwin. The producer was Nick Mangeolles. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again, and read it, on the internet at https://www.radio.english.net To se.e a video of Baumgartner’s space jump, visit our website. This programme is called “Felix Baumgartner: Jumping from Space”.
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