James May Takes Takes An "Emotional" Ride To The Edge Of Space In A U2 Spyplane (VIDEO)

British Journalist James May takes a trip in a U2 spyplane to the edge of space. He narrates the journey, waxes philosophical, and eats lunch (he has a tube of "peaches" which reminds him of "baby food", the pilot has clam chowder).

"it does make me feel slightly emotional" May says, and looks out the window. "The sky looks just breathtaking. If indeed that is the sky. Most of the sky is below us. I think that might be a view of eternity." The pilot agrees. "Technically speaking you are correct."

Comments

[Kyle Emerick]

Ahh... Captain Slow. The guy has such an awesome job.

[maggirl]

Oh James - you are such a lucky bastard! How I envy you!

[Bogey907]

Top Gear is Top Entertainment! They rock!

[StopMakingSense2]

Top Gear is my favorite car show. They make everything fun and amusing..

[WhatDaBleep]

Just HOW does a British Journalist rate and get to fly in one of America's most top Secret plane?

Oh - that's right - because Britain still has journalists and not commentators like America does!

[lm945]

He's also one of the co-hosts of "Top Gear," a BBC program where the hosts do unusual and somtimes dangerous things in and with moving vehicles, not all of them automobiles.

Video of May's experience will no doubt be played on the show.

[deepfreezevideo]

Like LM says, watch a few episodes of "Top Gear" and you will understand why.
Yes yes it's just a silly car show...or is it?
There is NOTHING in the USA right at the moment that even begins to approach it in terms of journalistic gymnastics, except perhaps NOVA, Nightline, Bill Moyers, but nothing in standard fare.
James May has a grasp on communicating emotions, descriptions and desires that really satisfies. And to top it all off he's just a fun bloke to have around.

[revhatchell]

"america's most top secret plane"

maybe 40 years ago. now it's a relic.

[AmandaBC]

Since some people here made fun of me claiming that 70,000 ft. above the ground is hardly the edge of space, here's what real science says:

"With that data, U of C scientists confirmed that space begins 118 km above Earth and the results were published this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research."

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/uoc-spt040909.php

Feel free to feel stupid... ;)

[HazerX]

In the famous words of Styx, Amanda has:

T T T T T too much time on her hands. . .

[anthead]

Pay no attention to the tools here.
Amanda you rock.

[AtheistUS]

This is just almost arbitrary definition. Useless discussion.

Different branches of science may define such boundary differently, based on different criteria.

Same with edge of the solar system or edge of our galaxy.

That said, your number, something in the range 100-120km is certainly more mainstream than something so low as 20-30km (but, well, for airplanes, this is the edge).

[thefooligan5]

You're being really antagonistic over nothing Amanda.

[MenloPark]

Hmmm...air pressure 5% of that on the ground.....you can scoop air molecules a handful at a time and put them in a jar.... without a space suit your blood boils away just like being in REAL space...

Yup ...not even close :)

[sallyrover]

Captain Slow... in SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE! Excellent!

[The Albany Kid]

Great stuff!

However, IMHO, no man has bigger stones than Col. Joseph Kittinger, who parachuted out of a balloon gondola from the edge of space (102,800 feet) in 1960.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kittinger

[jimbobuddy]

Right -on! I remember that as a kid. I recall that he had a partial pressure suit failure or something that affected his legs. ...the Right Stuff!

[AirViceMarshalPark]

Hard to believe that, 30 years ago, passengers in the Concorde were cruising only 10,000 feet below that altitude, flying at Mach 2 in normal clothing and eating lobster with some Dom in crystal glasses.

The depicted flight here was made wearing spacesuits, eating glop from a tube and at a very subsonic cruising speed

[AmandaBC]

The cabin of the Concorde was pressurized. The cockpit of a U2 is not.

[GoDogGo]

Anyone who enjoyed this should watch Top Gear. He's got a segment driving a Bugatti Veyron at 240 mph that's really, really amazing....

[hbw3]

I loved his piece on the Maserati Bora. Lyrical and evocative.

[hbw3]

Captain Slow is my hero.

[fieldjaz]

Very nice Mr May. It's great to see your dream has been fulfilled.

Top Fella! Ipso Facto!

[minidriver]

Captain Slow gets all the cool gigs.

[AmandaBC]

A Lockheed U2 has an operational ceiling of 70,000 feet (21,000 m) That's a mere 1.3 miles above the ground.

Hardly the "edge of space"...

P.S. Just to give you a frame of reference, the International Space Station orbits at an altitude of 220 miles (350 Km) above earth's surface. That's considered a "low orbit."

[Obamalicious]

Try 13.25 miles, Debbie Downer.

[AmandaBC]

It's a mere 13 miles. Sorry typo.
Airliners fly only a few miles below.

[audeo03]

Ooops! Added an extra zero there. It's 5280ft/mi not 52800ft/mi. Must be Canadian eh (BC)...

[AmandaBC]

I accidentally typed a "." That's it. If you want to make it a big deal just because I'm a foreigner, go right ahead...

[Nitehawk]

You dropped a decimal point, its 13.25757 miles. Still not ISS standard but high enough to see the curvature of the Earth

[AmandaBC]

You can see the curvature of earth from an airliner flying at high altitude. Yes, of course at 70,000 ft it's more pronounced.

[GoDogGo]

"Hardly the edge of space", eh?

Go to school.

[AmandaBC]

FU xeno.phobe.

You go to school.

Read and learn:

"With that data, U of C scientists confirmed that space begins 118 km above Earth and the results were published this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research."

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/uoc-spt040909.php

[Obamalicious]

Hey, ease up on Amanda. There is no need to be insulting or mean-spirited.

[waldopepper]

In the entire 2 hours that James May devoted to the show it was explained that at that altitude PHYSIOLOGICALLY it is space. In terms of the atmosphere he is 95% there. And would be just as dead if his suit failed him.

In the fifties before there were, what we think of as, Astronauts/Cosmonauts the people in the USAF were wearing suits that were spacesuits.

The program was called James May: at the Edge of Space.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_May_at_the_Edge_of_Space

And it was kick ass excellent!

[FrankenPC]

So, what do you have to do to get a ride in one of those babies?

[Nitehawk]

Well Captain Slow has already driven the world's fastest production car. Maybe they thought that qualified him.