Non-space missions
Parachutes are used for missions that are not directly space missions. Applications include parachutes for breaking race cars such as the Bloodhound supersonic car and high altitude parachute jumps.
Bloodhound
Bloodhound is a high-speed car designed to break the speed record for cars. To slow down the vehicle after a record speed run a combination of drag plates, parachutes and disk breaks are used. These parachutes operated at high velocities, but also at high densities. The overall high dynamic pressure creates quite some engineering challenges.
High-altitude parachute jumps
Joseph Kittinger, Felix Baumgartner, and Yevgeny Nikolayevich Andreyev are just a few people that did a high altitude parachute jump from a balloon.
Drogue parachutes
To help aircraft slow down just before landing, they are sometimes equipped with a drogue parachute. These parachutes slow help increase the drag and thus bring the aircraft to a complete stop. But they are also used on some space planes to reduce the load on the breaks.
Ejection seats
When control of a high-performance aircraft is lost the pilot can use the ejection seat to get to safety. These seats can be used at high and low speeds, and at high altitudes or close to the ground.
Human parachutes
A selection of parachutes used for military purposes focussing on the T4, T5, T7 and T10 parachutes
