Red Bull Space Jump

Felix Baumgartner fell from the stratosphere and into the history books Sunday October 14 2012 wearing nothing but a parachute and a pressurized suit to keep his insides from boiling.

All of the numbers reported are subject to confirmation by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, if confirmed then Felix Baumgartner will be the new holder of 3 impressive records.

According to a press release, the Red Bull Stratos team claimed to have broken 3 of the attempted 4 records they were attempting.  Unofficially he became the first human to break the sound barrier with out vehicular power by reaching a speed of Mach 1.24 on his dissent. He set the record for highest altitude ever jumped by man and also highest manned balloon flight.

The one record attempted that was not completed successfully was a go at the record for longest free fall, Joseph Kittinger had a free fall time 16 seconds longer at 4 minutes and 36 seconds of free fall. 

The Austrian pilot and parachutist fell from 128,100 ft or about 24 miles above the Earth. The daredevil was in free fall for 4 minutes and 20 seconds before deploying his parachute at 8,000 feet above the earth.

In those 4 minutes Baumgartner was able to reach a speed of 850 miles per hour thanks to a lack of air resistance at the altitude he jumped at. 

At 9:30 that morning Felix began his assent in a specially designed gondola that was lifted into space by a weather balloon. After 2.5 nerve-wracking hours Felix was at the jump altitude 24 miles above the Earth.

After the final checks and before the big moment the capsule communicator and current official record holder for highest altitude jump and longest free fall, Joseph Kittinger, told Felix “start the cameras and our guardian angel will be with you.”

Baumgarter stepped on the edge of the space gondola, and replied with “I know the world is watching now. I wish you could see what I see. Sometimes you need to be really high up to realize how small you are. I’m coming home now.”

With a salute and a tiny step forward he then plummeted back to earth.

Baumgartner’s free fall was time was cut short by a malfunction causing his visor to fog up, he was unable to determine his altitude at the time before pulling his parachute.

The event was broadcast live on television and the internet. Youtube claims that it had over 8 million viewers throughout the world watching.

Looking to the future it is nice to see that this event was funded by young peoples addiction to energy drinks and direct funding by taxpayers. It’s also a good  showing to the world that the private space sector can broadcast a man falling over 800 miles per hour live on television. It’s a promising sign that maybe in a couple of years any thrill seeking millionaire can pay a couple hundred thousand bucks and jump from the edge of space himself.