Exit altitude:
128,100 ft
39,045 m
4m:20s
119,846 ft
36,529 m
373 m/s
1,342.8 km/h
833.9 mph
Mach 1.24There is no 'force' associated with breaking the sound barrier, as most would imagine
Most of the forces in the freefall would have been G forces from the tumbling or spinning motion as he jumped out.
[0] the tl;dr for aircraft is that as you approach and overtake mach 1, at some point the airflow at the beginning of the wing is supersonic while at the rear of the wing it is not, as you accelerate this point moves from the front of the wing to the rear. the problem is that it causes the airflow from that point to separate from the wing which results in a stall, spin, crash etc.
But in the case of free fall from space or near space, the air is so thin that these effects are minimal. Also his starting velocity moving through the thin air is much lower than say a reentering space craft, so the whole thing is much more mild and manageable. By the time the air gets thick enough to worry about, he'll have shed enough speed to even the slight early drag to be at a reasonable terminal velocity. (This is the same concept used by SpaceShipOne's 'shuttlecock' re-entry).
-- This is interesing, Thanks.
Do we know at what altitude he hit Mach 1.0, out of curiousity?
A. Starting height = 39045 m
B. Desired speed = 343 m/s
C. Acceleration = 9.8 m/s/s
D. Average speed while accelerating = 171 m/s (half of B)
E. Time to reach desired speed = 35 s (B divided by C)
F. Therefore distance travelled = 5985 m (D times E)
G. Therefore altitude at Mach 1 = 33060 m, give or take the small amount of drag.
How appropriate - the speed of an Austrian skydiver measured in a unit named after an Austrian physicist!