High-Speed Escape


So that high-altitude ball-outs will not kill, the fast new planes are being designed to cone apart, allowing a safe drop in a tight capsule.
BY ERIC SLOANE
4 T 60,000 feet the flyer's plane becomes his cell of life, its equipment almost as important as his own body. Outside the plane the cold of space is of instant-freeze intensity, much colder than any thickness of clothing could protect from. It is so thin that an exposed human's body would cease to function. Blood would boil there at body temperature. Death from oxygen lack would occur quickly. Accordingly, the high-altitude plane has a cabin pumped with high-pressure air. Heated clothing is plugged into the plane's power line.