Irrespective of the perceived wisdom in outrageous daredevil stunts or what wisdom (if any) is gained by mankind in achieving them, one simply cannot let this Monday morning pass without commenting on the spectacular space jump of Austrian Felix Baumgartner.
You simply have got to have some pretty big ones to ascend into the real deathzone, more than three times higher than the one where many have exited this mortal coil, on Mount Everest. Baumgartner took almost two and a half hours to reach a height of around 128,000 feet, or 24 miles, in his capsule that was carried upwards by a helium balloon.
The mere concept of standing on a ladder 24 miles above the Earth and jumping off into nothing for a free fall that would last barely four minutes due to the speed achieved on the way down, is quite simply mind blowing! One of the most newsworthy aspects of the jump is that Baumgartner was expected to break the sound barrier by exceeding a speed of around 700 mph, thus making it the first supersonic space jump ever.
Just the idea of breaking the sound barrier as an individual, shielded from infinity by nothing more than a spacesuit, is such a daunting prospect that only a very unique breed of human would ever consider it a realistic challenge. But Baumgartner is known for daring skydives and had been preparing for this jump for five years of his life, and it was clear he was going to go through with it.
In some cool nods to history, the jump took place on the 65th anniversary of the first supersonic flight by Chuck Yeager in 1947, and was directed in mission control by fellow skydiver Joe Kittinger whose record-breaking skydive from 19 miles (around 100,000 feet) still stood at the time of Baumgartner's ascent.
As can be seen in the video, everything was proceeding nicely until Baumgartner went into a tail spin, and one cannot even imagine what that man went through up there in that spin, at speeds in excess of 700 mph. Baumgartner described it as being "like Hell", and for those scary few moments I am pretty certain that more than a few people (including himself) thought he was off to meet his maker.
This was uncharted territory and scientists were worried that a more-or-less exposed human body pulling such heavy G-forces out of control could basically have its blood boiled or the eyeballs exploding due to the pressure. But Baumgartner showed his true mettle by stabilizing himself, and continuing on until his parachute opened to the enormous relief of all involved. At that point, barring a totally unforeseen disaster, we all knew that he had done it. The relief was completely clear in his mother's eyes.
Felix then put the cherry on the cake by delivering himself back onto the sands of Roswell, New Mexico, in one of the most elegant touchdowns imaginable after a supersonic free fall from 24 miles above. The feeling of those sands under his feet must have been orgasmic, and his reaction on the ground implied that was indeed the case.
I haven't heard much yet about whether he heard himself breaking the sound barrier or what he felt when he did it, but I expect that is something that we will hear more on in coming days. One thing is certain, irrespective of what he heard, we are all going to hear a lot of noise about this incredible achievement that has again taken the human experience one step further.
Congratulations to the entire Red Bull Stratos team on this monster success; however, I somehow doubt that Felix will be needing any Red Bull for a few weeks because he surely must be completely pumped with energy and life today!
Kevin Mc
The mere concept of standing on a ladder 24 miles above the Earth and jumping off into nothing for a free fall that would last barely four minutes due to the speed achieved on the way down, is quite simply mind blowing! One of the most newsworthy aspects of the jump is that Baumgartner was expected to break the sound barrier by exceeding a speed of around 700 mph, thus making it the first supersonic space jump ever.
Just the idea of breaking the sound barrier as an individual, shielded from infinity by nothing more than a spacesuit, is such a daunting prospect that only a very unique breed of human would ever consider it a realistic challenge. But Baumgartner is known for daring skydives and had been preparing for this jump for five years of his life, and it was clear he was going to go through with it.
In some cool nods to history, the jump took place on the 65th anniversary of the first supersonic flight by Chuck Yeager in 1947, and was directed in mission control by fellow skydiver Joe Kittinger whose record-breaking skydive from 19 miles (around 100,000 feet) still stood at the time of Baumgartner's ascent.
As can be seen in the video, everything was proceeding nicely until Baumgartner went into a tail spin, and one cannot even imagine what that man went through up there in that spin, at speeds in excess of 700 mph. Baumgartner described it as being "like Hell", and for those scary few moments I am pretty certain that more than a few people (including himself) thought he was off to meet his maker.
This was uncharted territory and scientists were worried that a more-or-less exposed human body pulling such heavy G-forces out of control could basically have its blood boiled or the eyeballs exploding due to the pressure. But Baumgartner showed his true mettle by stabilizing himself, and continuing on until his parachute opened to the enormous relief of all involved. At that point, barring a totally unforeseen disaster, we all knew that he had done it. The relief was completely clear in his mother's eyes.
Felix then put the cherry on the cake by delivering himself back onto the sands of Roswell, New Mexico, in one of the most elegant touchdowns imaginable after a supersonic free fall from 24 miles above. The feeling of those sands under his feet must have been orgasmic, and his reaction on the ground implied that was indeed the case.
I haven't heard much yet about whether he heard himself breaking the sound barrier or what he felt when he did it, but I expect that is something that we will hear more on in coming days. One thing is certain, irrespective of what he heard, we are all going to hear a lot of noise about this incredible achievement that has again taken the human experience one step further.
Congratulations to the entire Red Bull Stratos team on this monster success; however, I somehow doubt that Felix will be needing any Red Bull for a few weeks because he surely must be completely pumped with energy and life today!
Kevin Mc
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