What would happen if you could parachute off the International Space Station?

While the view from the International Space Station is beautiful, jumping from there will not be. It will be a deadly trip for any astronaut who will jump from the ISS to reach the surface of the Earth. Here is the transcript of the video.

Most paratroopers jump from an airplane flying 3.8 km above the ground. But imagine jumping something even higher, like the International Space Station.

Unless you have a super-suit like Tony Stark, it's not going to end well. But suppose Iron Man gives you one.

OK, ready? 3 … 2 … 1 … Jump! Wait … what?

That's right, you would not fall right away. In fact, it will take you at least 2.5 years to reach the surface. So what's going on?

The height is not the main reason why your fall takes so long. In fact, if you fell like a normal paratrooper, it would only take about 2 hours.

But the point is that you do not fall directly. You fall into orbit. The reason is the speed. You see, the ISS could call a station, but it is barely stationary. It actually moves 12 times faster than a jet fighter.

If you shoot anything at this speed on Earth, when it hits the ground, it will be missing! In the same way, the ISS does not float in the space, it falls to Earth and it disappears!

And when you jump from the ISS, you move at the same speed first. So, you also find yourself in orbit, at least for a moment.

Now, even though it's very high, the ISS is going through a very thin atmosphere. And this friction slows him down. So, the station pulls engines to maintain speed and avoid crashing into the Earth.

Unfortunately, your super-suit does not come with motors attached to your feet. This has two consequences:

First of all, it means you can not maneuver and hope that one of these 13,000 pieces of space debris does not impale you. Second, without rockets to maintain your speed, you will slow down and spiral towards Earth.

But it will not be fast. The Chinese space station Tiangong 1, for example, about 2 years to fall out of the orbit. On the ISS, you are higher, so you will take about 2.5 years. But once you hit the atmosphere, your long wait is over. And it's gone.

When you come home, you have one goal: to slow down. You are traveling at hypersonic speeds. So, if you deployed a parachute now, it would break into pieces.

And this is not the only problem. Falling into the atmosphere at such a speed of release puts a lot of pressure on your suit – at least 8G of strength – 8 times the gravity you feel at sea level.

And if you fall out of First feet, it will push the blood away from your brain and towards your feet. So, you will probably faint, unless you are one of those fighter pilots who train to support up to 5 G.

Now, if you do not faint, you can worry about freezing temperatures here. But, it turns out that your suit is more likely to melt than to freeze. Do you know how you can warm your hands by rubbing them together?

Now imagine that your super-suit rubs against the air molecules in the atmosphere at least 6 times the speed of sound. You will heat up to about 1650ºC – hot enough to melt the iron!

In fact, the heat is so intense that it removes the electrons from their atoms forming a pink plasma around you that will eventually destroy the costume.

That's not enough of a problem, the drag will rip your limbs. But, fortunately, Tony Stark is back, and in one way or another, your supersuit holds with you intact.

At 41 km, you have reached the skydive world record. In 2014, Alan Eustace was wearing a pressurized space suit while he was riding a balloon up to that height. He broke the sound barrier before deploying his parachute and landed about 15 minutes after the fall.

But you will fall much faster than Eustace – about 3 times the speed of sound. So, in reality, you will not slow down enough to deploy your fall safely. It's where Iron Man can help us one last time. At 1 km, you have reached the territory of ordinary paratroopers who do not need sophisticated combinations to survive.

And at this point, your parachute can do its job. And it is finally time to land softly.

Whew, what a ride! What kind of daring exploit would you like us to try next? Let us know in the comments below.

Special thanks to Shawn R Brueshaber of Western Michigan University and Kunio Sayanagi of Hampton University for their help in making this video