UPDATE
The stratosphere jump happened on Sunday 14th October, 2012 in Roswell, New Mexico and was a roaring success by all accounts. Congratulations to the hard-working behind-the-scenes Red Bull Stratos team, and of course to Felix Baumgartner – who now holds the world record for completing the highest jump in the world, as well as being the first person to break the speed of sound in a free-fall . View the Youtube video of it.
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Red Bull has leaped over impressive boundaries, from launching their successful sugary-sweet taurine and caffeine energy drink to consumers in 1987, to quietly becoming the unofficial extreme sports endorser in the years that followed. They’ve got a finger in almost every pie, from sports such as mountain-biking, snowboarding and paragliding, to NASCAR, cliff diving, and air-racing. It’s actually a really, really long list.
The first time I became aware of them as the extraordinary, vibrant, exciting company that they are (as opposed to being yet another group of faceless, corporate suits out to make a profit) was when I watched the movie, “The Art of Flight”. The opening line “You know it’s not the destination, it’s the adventure along the way, and as clichéd as that sounds, that’s really how it is,” caught my attention, and proceeded to hold me captive for the 40+ minutes I sat watching.
The current project being backed by Red Bull is the heroic (or crazy) attempt to launch a man into the stratosphere in a metallic orb and have him do a supersonic free-fall back to earth, protected by only a pressurized suit. There will be a parachute that will open at 1,524 meters, and the entire Red Bull Stratos team is hoping to break the current records for the fastest, highest, and longest-duration skydive.
The team is made up of experienced scientists, the original ‘stratos-jumper’ Captain Joseph Kittinger, and newcomer, Felix Baumgartner. Felix has had to take a variety of precautions to prepare him for this extreme activity and some of the strict rules he’s had to follow includes avoiding foods that produce gas, and staying on a diet of basic potatoes and protein.
The original death-defying skydiving feat was accomplished by Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., USAF, in 1960, while wearing nothing more than a suit held together with duct tape. He arrived in the upper atmosphere by a balloon-born gondola, and you can read his thoughts about this on National Geographic. My favourite quote from the article, in our age of dependence on technology is: “No powered aircraft can put man into a space environment and keep him there for a sustained period of time. But the lighter-than-air balloon, man’s oldest flight vehicle, can.”
Sadly, over the years, dozens of others have tried, but failed and died, in attempts at recreating the “skydive from space”, lending a sobering quality to the current high spirits. There is a lot that can go wrong, and to put it bluntly, Felix will be all alone, with the nearest help being hundreds of miles away.
The launch of this mission was regrettably delayed from happening yesterday, due to strong gusts of wind which would have buffered the balloon about, but the team is hopeful that today, Wednesday the 10th of October, the mission will take place. As of now, it is set to, but if the winds reach 3.2 kph it will have to be delayed, yet again.
As I have a love of music emphasising climatic moments in film and television shows, and I’d like to propose Adele’s new single “Skyfall” be used as an appropriate backing track for this daring feat … when it finally occurs. The line “a thousand miles and poles apart” is quite appropriate.
Let us know if you’re planning to watch this event, and don’t forget to enter into the Red Bull Stratos Competition, which requires you to ‘pin’ the spot you think Felix will safely land on.
Main image credited to Volkmar K. Wentzel, (National Geographic).
