Gearfuse

Remember the Swiss “Fusion Man” Yves Rossy who attempted to cross the English channel in his jet powered wing suit? Well, he made it. Rossy is the first person to ever fly between France and England with a jetpack strapped to his back.  This historic flight took only 10 minutes as the “Fusion Man” flew at speeds of up to 120 MPH.

It took him at least five years to develop the jet-propelled device, which seems to have paid off in the long run, forever marking him in the history books of aviation. Congratulations to Mr. Rossy for his successful venture.

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Swiss “Fusion Man” Yves Rossy who debuted his jet powered wing suit back in May wants to fly across the English channel from Callais to Dover. Rossy is confident that his wing can make the journey. Last week he took a 22 mile test flight in Switzerland. His planned channel route should be approximately 29-30 miles.

Rossy launches his jet pack from a plane. He lands his rocket wing by turning off the engines and parachuting to the ground. Rossy’s jet pack reaches insane speeds 186 m.p.h. at altitudes of about 8,200 feet. His mission will supposedly be streamed live on the National Geographic Channel. We’ll keep you posted when we find a date and time for the broadcast.

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Following the failed space funeral of Star Trek actor James “Scotty” Doohan, his son told BoingBoing that portions of Scotty’s ashes will continue to be launched into space until they finally enter orbit. Scotty’s ashes were lost aboard the SpaceX rocket that spun out of control last weekend, but space burial company Celestis keeps “backup supplies” of their customers remains on hand in case rockets get lost.

Erich Blackhound, one of Scotty’s sons, said that the many unsuccessful attempts to send his father’s body to the stars have taken a toll on him and he’d “like to finish saying goodbye.” Though Blackhound thinks his father would have been glad to be a part of the continuing evolution, he says can’t bear to watch anymore burials for his father and “when news of the next launch rolls around… I won’t be paying attention.” A spokesperson for Celestis told the New York times that space launches are “very difficult” and failures are an inevitable part of the rocket business.

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It turns out that space funerals might not be such a great idea after all. Commercial spaceflight company SpaceX had their third failed launch in a row last night when the Falcon 1 rocket began spinning out of control less than two minutes after liftoff in the Marshall Islands. Aboard the doomed rocket were the ashes 208 people including Star Trek actor James “Scotty” Doohan.

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What does an ex-fighter pilot do for thrills and kicks when he’s done shooting down krauts? He builds a unique rocket-powered flying machine, takes some opium and calls himself Fusion Man. Such is the life of 48-year-old Yves Rossy, the man behind the wings of his real-life Iron Man suit. Rossy is able to achieve speeds of 186 mph and altitudes of about 8200 ft.

It’s interesting how Fusion Man gets going on his wings. First, he jumps out of an airplane, after that, he coasts for awhile before igniting the four rockets on his wings. The entire time he is able to maintain complete control and even perform maneuvers like a 360 and barrel roll. All I want to know is how I can get my hands on one of these amazing suits. Who needs a FPV RC kit when you can become the airplane itself!

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