Comments on: Up, up and away in my beautiful [Red Bull] balloon

Up, up and away in my beautiful [Red Bull] balloon

wensink — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:47:13 -0800

Next Monday, "Fearless" Felix Baumgartner will attempt to break the sound barrier. Skydiving. Over Roswell, New Mexico. Having jumped from his balloon and an altitude of 23 miles.

From the AP: "Then there's the risk of a flat spin, in which Baumgartner loses control of his body during the free fall and starts spinning. A long, fast spin, if left unchecked, could turn his eyeballs into blood-soaked, reddish-purple orbs, and he could be left temporarily blind. Also, a massive blood clot could form in his brain. 'All the things that can happen are varying degrees of bad,' offers Baumgartner's top medical man, Dr. Jonathan Clark, a former NASA flight surgeon."

By: mr. digits

mr. digits — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:51:40 -0800

In the advent of a flat spin, temporary blindness may be very temporary.

By: Science!

Science! — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:55:03 -0800

If you want to read more we've had several great posts that cover Kittinger's early record jumps in various forms.

By: Egg Shen

Egg Shen — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:56:08 -0800

Sounds better than "Foolhardy" Felix Baumgartner, I guess.

By: Tell Me No Lies

Tell Me No Lies — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:57:30 -0800

Live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful crater.

By: Mojojojo

Mojojojo — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:02:32 -0800

This pic makes me nearly wet myself.

By: mannequito

mannequito — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:03:05 -0800

Perhaps he will travel so fast as to go back in time, all the way to 1947..

By: Science!

Science! — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:08:49 -0800

Teaser clip of a test jump.

By: carter

carter — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:09:19 -0800

Is 'God speed' an appropriate thing to say here? Anyway, best of luck to him.

By: annsunny

annsunny — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:10:36 -0800

Yep, the Balloon Fiesta starts next weekend here in Albuquerque. I suppose his attempt will be covered here as part of that. I really want to make an alien joke, here.

By: no regrets, coyote

no regrets, coyote — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:11:41 -0800

"After this," he promises, "I'm going to retire because I've been successfully doing things for the last 25 years and I'm still alive." YOU FOOL WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT.

By: Pogo_Fuzzybutt

Pogo_Fuzzybutt — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:14:16 -0800

I need to figure out how to make more money, because I would totally do this. And I'm terribly acrophobic - I can't even climb a ladder. But this! This would be sawheeet.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:23:12 -0800

It's disappointing that some people will go to any extremes to avoid the presidential debates.

By: biffa

biffa — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:25:02 -0800

'All the things that can happen are varying degrees of bad,' Umbrella turns inside out?

By: CynicalKnight

CynicalKnight — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:28:39 -0800

I find it hard to believe he will make that jump in the suit pictured, though - won't there be something more streamlined? I thought the first supersonic X-1 flights were troubled by boiling fuel because the lines were routed too close to the skin of the aircraft?

By: justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow

justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:37:26 -0800

Is 'God speed' an appropriate thing to say here? No. God's flaming chariot is capable of travelling at speeds exceeding mach 4 within earth's atmosphere.

By: modernnomad

modernnomad — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:50:46 -0800

"After this," he promises, "I'm going to retire because I've been successfully doing things for the last 25 years and I'm still alive." The Murtaugh and Riggs school of logic.

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 17:15:30 -0800

I'll go on record as saying this guy is going to have no trouble falling 23 miles and surviving. It's when he reaches the ground that he might be in trouble

By: wensink

wensink — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 17:48:46 -0800

Meanwhile, Tom Cruise and David Miscavige are busily drawing up plans for their 24 mile jump.

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 17:58:12 -0800

Mojojojo: This pic makes me nearly wet myself. With shivery delight. I would add.

By: Turkey Glue

Turkey Glue — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:14:29 -0800

The effects of extreme g-forces are insane. Witness John Stapp, who intentionally withstood forces 43 times greater than gravity to prove that humans could indeed survive an impact with a force of 43g. It made his eyeballs bleed. (Also, I hope some good data comes out of this jump. Stapp was part of an Air Force program to improve crash safety of airplanes, so it's not like he was a thrill seeker. While it'll be interesting to see if a human can break the sound barrier for its own sake, I hope someone can study exactly what happens to the body in such a situation.)

By: aramaic

aramaic — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:37:59 -0800

All the things that can happen are varying degrees of bad This is going to be my daily mantra when I turn 75. It is possibly the greatest quote ever made.

By: ennui.bz

ennui.bz — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:43:36 -0800

hey, it's time for some pedantry:

If all goes well, he will reach the speed of sound in about half a minute at an altitude of around 100,000 feet. Then he will start to slow as the atmosphere gets denser, and after five minutes of free fall, he will pull his main parachute.

so.... are we talking about the speed of sound at 100,000 feet or the speed of sound at sea-level? I mean, it's only about 100 mph slower (767 mph vs 680 mph) but I suspect the shock waves are a lot less of a problem at the air density at 100,000 feet...

By: ftm

ftm — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:02:32 -0800

Perhaps he will travel so fast as to go back in time, all the way to 1947.. Did you ever get the feeling you're only going with girls 'cause you're supposed to?

By: Kinbote

Kinbote — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:10:36 -0800

"You're insane, Rebus!"

By: Bartonius

Bartonius — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:11:37 -0800

I hear you, ennui.bz those are two different speeds. But.. 100 000 feet! and the speed of sound! So, I see your pedantry and raise you two AWESOME-s.

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:16:47 -0800

I need to figure out how to make more money, because I would totally do this. And I'm terribly acrophobic - I can't even climb a ladder. But this! This would be sawheeet. posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt Yes, and your fuzzybutt would help to cushion the fall.

By: ph00dz

ph00dz — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:27:45 -0800

I'm, like, soooo excited for this. I mean... does it get more epic?

By: eriko

eriko — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:36:39 -0800

I thought the first supersonic X-1 flights were troubled by boiling fuel because the lines were routed too close to the skin of the aircraft? That's because the X-1 was doing Mach 1 at 70,000 feet, and Baumgartner will be doing so about at 100,000 feet. The X-1A flew considerably higher -- about 90K feet, but also considerably faster. The air is so thin that terminal velocity is supersonic -- but since there's so little air, there's very little friction. As long as you slow with the increasing pressure -- basically, you stay at terminal velocity and not power through the air faster, you'll never encounter dramatic heating. High performance aircraft worry about this, because they move much faster than terminal velocity, and often in much thicker air. Rockets *really* have to worry about this, both up and down. Going up, you have massive amounts of thrust accelerating you up. Indeed, almost all initial rocket boost profiles are as close to straight up as they can make it, because you want to get away from the thickets part of the atmosphere. Pressure and heating builds on the craft, reaching the peak at Max-Q, Maximum Dynamic Pressure. After Max-Q, the load fall -- yes, the rocket continues to accelerate, but the thinning atmosphere presents much less drag. So, the usual launch profile is mostly up through Max-Q, then turn horizontal to pick up the velocity you need to stay in orbit*. Coming back, you have the problem of orbital (or in the case of the Apollo moon missions, much more than orbital) velocity. When you're doing Mach 25, you need a heat shield at 400,000 feet. But this is really no different than Joe Kittinger's jumps -- another couple of miles higher, which seems a lot, but when you talking the difference between 23 miles and 25 miles, well, it's really not a big difference. * The hard part about space travel isn't getting to orbital heights. Sounding rockets that would easily fit in a suburban back yard can easily hit 500km altitude, or even higher. But they can't stay there. The hard part is getting to orbital velocity. For low earth orbit, that's about 7-8km per second, or 16,000-18,000 miles per hour. So, really, for a stable LEO, you need to get to about 200km off the ground *and* moving at about 7.5km/sec. That last part is by far the hardest part -- of both launch and recovery. If you put 7.5km/sec into an object that you want to land safely on the ground, you need to get rid of that velocity.

By: gingerest

gingerest — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:21:21 -0800

Also, I hope some good data comes out of this jump. Stapp was part of an Air Force program to improve crash safety of airplanes, so it's not like he was a thrill seeker. While it'll be interesting to see if a human can break the sound barrier for its own sake, I hope someone can study exactly what happens to the body in such a situation. I read about this in Mary Roach's "Packing for Mars" (which is great) - the jump's funded by Red Bull but NASA's providing a lot of guidance and collecting the data. The justification for the jump is that there are no high-altitude bailout plans for astronauts because the data from Kittinger and Stapp indicated there's an altitude limit to survivability of the G-forces, but the advances made in skydiving (and in pressure suits) since 1960 raised the possibility anew. I wonder if Michel Fournier's still planning to jump this year? I don't think he's got much if any sponsorship.

By: univac

univac — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 22:26:33 -0800

Clark was married to space shuttle astronaut Laurel Clark, who was killed aboard Columbia while it was returning to Earth in 2003, and he has dedicated himself to improving astronauts' chances of survival in a high-altitude disaster. It would be amazing if astronauts could bail out of orbit by jumping, but how would you get rid of orbital velocity?

By: eye of newt

eye of newt — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 22:30:54 -0800

A previous post before his jump got postponed. It got postponed because of a lawsuit. Someone claimed that the idea of sponsoring a dare-devil attempt at breaking a record was all their idea (or something like that).

By: homunculus

homunculus — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:16:01 -0800

Space Diving

By: breath

breath — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 02:03:44 -0800

It would be amazing if astronauts could bail out of orbit by jumping, but how would you get rid of orbital velocity? I was thinking about the amazingness of this idea, and the answer became completely clear. Surfboards.

By: MtDewd

MtDewd — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 05:04:52 -0800

I like the capsule. They should use that for a new Red Bull bottle.

By: dgran

dgran — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 07:22:45 -0800

I'm glad to see things like this because it makes everything dangerous I do seem so much more sensible.

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 07:15:09 -0800

It's too bad that if this goes off it'll knock Kittinger off his perch. I think there is an additional fortitude required when jumping from a gondola made at least partially of canvas with a glove that has been leaking causing your hand to double in size all based on slide rule math and guesswork. No computer models, no media hype, no corporate sponsorship, no morning chat shows: just a guy with some brass and a government paycheck. I'd have hated to have been the still-living Kittinger that his record was being challenged: "by who, the Russians? No? The English? Chinese? Well, who then? A SOFT DRINK COMPANY?!"

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 21:06:55 -0800

Aeronauts

By: homunculus

homunculus — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 14:07:22 -0800

World's highest, fastest skydive requires the world's biggest balloon

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 13:53:13 -0800

Aeronauts Holy fucking, eye candy. Thanks, Homunculus, you brilliant bastard.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 14:34:53 -0800

Aw shucks. I decided that and some others deserved their own post, btw.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 17:27:07 -0800

Skydiver Baumgartner's 120,000ft spacesuit leap delayed by bad wind

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 08:57:40 -0800

Evidently he's off today live tweets here.

By: COBRA!

COBRA! — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:07:59 -0800

One thing's been bothering me about this: what happens to the balloon and capsule after he jumps? Can it be brought down remotely, or is it just sky trash for a while, until it becomes land (or sea) trash?

By: jimmythefish

jimmythefish — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:15:32 -0800

MetaFilter: All the things that can happen are varying degrees of bad.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:35:07 -0800

Felix Baumgartner's Incredible, High-Tech Space Suit

By: knile

knile — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:38:17 -0800

And we're off to the races, it would appear. Godspeed, Felix Baumgartner.

By: bondcliff

bondcliff — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:41:08 -0800

Seeing as the Mission Timeline link on the Red Bull page is a big steaming pile of useless, does anyone know how long it will take him to get up to the jump altitude?

By: bondcliff

bondcliff — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:42:08 -0800

Feh. Abort.

By: knile

knile — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:43:09 -0800

"Abort the attempt for this morning", they just said. This is the official Red Bull Stratos site, with live feed when possible. Mission Control calls a cancellation at 42 past the hour.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 15:00:00 -0800

This Is The Man Who Made The First Supersonic Parachute Jump, Just Not On Purpose

By: carter

carter — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 06:38:56 -0800

Looks like they're trying to go again. Live feed.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 07:49:14 -0800

The balloon is filling up! Yay!

By: alby

alby — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:17:40 -0800

That's a big balloon.

By: carter

carter — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:31:06 -0800

Off!

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:31:20 -0800

They've launched!

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:31:28 -0800

And we're up!

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:31:46 -0800

His mother is weeping, but I'm not sure it's for joy.

By: Countess Elena

Countess Elena — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:34:22 -0800

ColdChef, that's exactly what I thought. As a Southerner, my first reaction to this, once I saw a picture of him as an actual guy on the ground, was: Where's his mama? (I have never wished to jump out of planes, or fly them, but even in my thirties I am NOT ALLOWED)

By: lydhre

lydhre — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:35:23 -0800

Annnnnd here comes the vertigo for me. Eeek.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:35:46 -0800

Wow, 1.4 million people watching the video on YouTube.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:37:19 -0800

About 1/10 of the way up now. This is going to take a while...

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:37:35 -0800

I AM SO EXCITED

By: carter

carter — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:42:09 -0800

This is going to take a while... 2 hours + to get all the way up, apparently.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:45:09 -0800

Is the horizon distorted because of the camera lens or is that the actual curvature of the earth?

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:47:25 -0800

it's got to be a wide angle lens, he's not high enough to see that dramatic of a curve. compare with photos taken from ISS, it's not that curved.

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:47:48 -0800

Commentary from the five year old: "I'm a little nervous he might hurt himself." "Is it possible he could hurt himself?" (Me: Yes, it's possible.) "If he forgets to open his parachute, it's VERY possible. .... "Two hours?! That means I can go and play!" "Say Happy Jumping to Felix from me"

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:48:47 -0800

for example, also

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:49:03 -0800

Yea, he's not even as high as a typical airline flight altitude yet. You wouldn't see much of a curvature.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:49:24 -0800

bardophile, he can't "forget," it's automated in case he passes out.

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:50:54 -0800

Thanks desjardins, that will reassure the kid. I should have guessed as much and thought to explain that to him.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:51:18 -0800

Thank you, desjardins.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:53:00 -0800

bardophile, the primary danger is a flat spin. He's got to be very careful how he actually jumps, or he will not be able to control anything at all.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:53:10 -0800

People are speculating on what he's doing on the slow rise upwards. Anyway, score maximum style points by dancing Gangnam Style out of the capsule, Felix...

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:55:09 -0800

oh man I have so much to do today but I can't look away

By: alby

alby — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:55:12 -0800

bardophile, he can't "forget," it's automated in case he passes out. His parachute is fitted with a CYPRES device which uses explosive bolts to open his reserve parachute if his rate of descent exceeds a given threshold below a set threshold altitude.

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:55:13 -0800

desjardins, yes, I had read that much. I'm not thinking I should explain that to the five-year-old, though.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:59:18 -0800

well, no, I don't recommend that.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:59:26 -0800

It's important to teach young children about death. That way, later, when you threaten them with it, they have a real appreciation of it.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:59:42 -0800

Holey moley.

By: mochapickle

mochapickle — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:01:39 -0800

I was wondering how he's passing the time... He's looking at some sort of monitor. He's so cool. If I were up there, I'd have my nose pressed against the capsule window, whimpering.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:05:09 -0800

His mom is wearing a plastic Roswell Alien ring. So cool.

By: Dr. Zira

Dr. Zira — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:05:36 -0800

This sure beats the hell out of a "Say Yes to the Dress" marathon.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:06:06 -0800

-67 degrees outside the capsule now. Or as they call it in Minnesota, "October".

By: ChrisR

ChrisR — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:06:26 -0800

I think I'll watch this with my son. He's 3.5 years old, and won't totally get it, but he was only 1.5 when he saw STS-132 go up, and even if he doesn't totally understand it, maybe it'll seed something. You know, other than a desire to drink Red Bull.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:08:47 -0800

The material the balloon is made of is ten times thinner than a sandwich bag.

By: mochapickle

mochapickle — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:09:48 -0800

It's like a giant dry cleaner bag.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:19:23 -0800

Holy shit, that's Joe Kittinger in the video stream doing capsule communications with Baumgartner.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:21:34 -0800

Yeah he's the only one allowed to talk to him so there's no crosstalk and confusion.

By: alby

alby — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:23:37 -0800

Having Kittinger as CAPCOM is a nice touch.

By: fullerine

fullerine — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:27:27 -0800

Mrs Fullerine just said "isn't it cool that Henry Kissinger is talking him through it".

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:27:42 -0800

Two hours is a long time to be sitting down. I hope he's taken a kettle, teapot, cup and some nice tea with him, to pass the time.

By: changeling

changeling — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:30:24 -0800

what's not heating!? terror

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:30:25 -0800

I can't understand what Felix is saying, it sounds like some light is on that isn't supposed to be on?

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:31:06 -0800

Sounds like there's some trouble with the temperature control in the capsule.

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:31:42 -0800

And now the sound is gone on the feed for me.

By: fullerine

fullerine — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:31:50 -0800

Thought he said his face heater is not working. He mentioned condensation when he breathed

By: Countess Elena

Countess Elena — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:31:59 -0800

The live feed's silence is eerie.

By: mochapickle

mochapickle — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:32:43 -0800

Oh sound is back. I didn't breeeeeeathe.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:32:49 -0800

anyone who watched Challenger live has to have some goosebumps.

By: alby

alby — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:33:29 -0800

Sounds like there's some trouble with the temperature control in the capsule. The problem is with Baumgartner's visor's heating system.

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:33:32 -0800

Guy has a huge set of stones. Godspeed Felix.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:34:03 -0800

Eep. That sounds eepy.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:34:53 -0800

His mother seems quite cheerful, though.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:35:04 -0800

If they can't fix the visor heat, I can imagine his exhaled breath condensing and freezing on the inside once he gets out into the cold, making it hard or impossible to see outside.

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:36:17 -0800

What is the plan if there is an issue? Isn't the alternative to bail out and jump, but that is what he wants. Does the capsule have a parachute on it? Can he stay in and ride it down somehow?

By: Dr. Zira

Dr. Zira — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:36:42 -0800

I am slightly disappointed that the "Armstong Line" is not named for Neil Armstrong.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:36:53 -0800

Safety aside, it would suck to jump from that high and not even be able to see anything.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:37:05 -0800

I think just before the feed was cut he said there was a problem with the navigation system, it's only showing the nearest Apple Store, and they should have stuck with Google Maps?

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:38:44 -0800

Here's what the earth looks like from space on Apple maps.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:41:04 -0800

The data display in the live stream is impressive. I wished it had a map overlay of his present position - he's now about halfway from Roswell towards the Texas border with not much horizontal speed any more.

By: atrazine

atrazine — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:43:03 -0800

Does the capsule have a parachute on it? Can he stay in and ride it down somehow? It does have its own parachute, I assume that he can ride it down if required.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:43:27 -0800

since they show the lat/long, I'm surprised someone hasn't whipped up a live map.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:45:16 -0800

I'm surprised someone hasn't whipped up a live map. Behold!

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:48:14 -0800

huh, someone has. Live map + live video feed.

By: Countess Elena

Countess Elena — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:49:12 -0800

You can see Clovis on that map. I like that.

By: lampshade

lampshade — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:50:41 -0800

What happens to the capsule and balloon after the jump?

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:51:50 -0800

They come down to earth?

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:52:21 -0800

Temp is warming up outside. Odd.

By: alby

alby — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:52:47 -0800

What happens to the capsule and balloon after the jump? The capsule returns to Earth under a parachute and is recovered.

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:52:48 -0800

The capsule has a parachute attached to it. so will be retrieved, lots of video data on it. Not sure about the balloon.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:52:54 -0800

The capsule should come down intact (there's all sorts of data they will want to recover from there); the balloon will not.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:53:41 -0800

What happens to the capsule and balloon after the jump? it unfolds into a fully armed and operational battle station

By: Countess Elena

Countess Elena — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:55:52 -0800

Wait, I missed it, what did he say would happen if he crossed the Texas state line? Fines for lack of state permits?

By: Guy Smiley

Guy Smiley — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:55:55 -0800

Meanwhile, in other nerd-live-feed news, here's Endeavour slooooowly being towed through Los Angeles.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:57:45 -0800

Is Twitter breaking for anyone else?

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:57:58 -0800

Fines for lack of state permits? Arrested for the crime of science, presumably.

By: atrazine

atrazine — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:58:52 -0800

Temp is warming up outside. Odd. That's heat from the UV absorbed by the ozone layer, the temperature will probably keep rising all the way to the top of the flight.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:00:26 -0800

Dude ran out of things to say so he's just clearing his throat.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:00:56 -0800

I suspect the major concerns if they ended up crossing the state line is the denser population and longer recovery time

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:02:53 -0800

I think I heard on the feed that there are increased wind speeds in Texas.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:03:32 -0800

I like how they have his name on his helmet as if they're going to mix it up with some other dude's helmet.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:06:59 -0800

Out of curiosity (it's for a friend). Are there any medical people here who can say what (if anything) would happen if Felix got an erection at 120,000 feet, when about to jump? #UnwantedWood

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:07:57 -0800

Name on helmet so all the pictures for posterity have his name on it. Also, don't want folks to think his name is Red Bull do we?

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:08:34 -0800

Man, there's so many buttons on the left there. It's like the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon.

By: Room 641-A

Room 641-A — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:09:40 -0800

I suspect the major concerns if they ended up crossing the state line is the denser population I'm watching this on Discovery Channel and that's the explanation I heard. (There may be others, of course.)

By: Jehan

Jehan — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:10:20 -0800

Out of curiosity (it's for a friend). Are there any medical people here who can say what (if anything) would happen if Felix got an erection at 120,000 feet, when about to jump? #UnwantedWood

Isn't he in a pressure suit? So unless he's planning on jumping with his cock out (which would be rather awesome), it should be fine.

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:10:47 -0800

What is the jump point? How many feet up?

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:11:16 -0800

How long will they keep going up? Do they have a set altitude, or will he just keep going until he runs out of ballast?

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:11:38 -0800

120,000.

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:12:40 -0800

I like how they have his name on his helmet as if they're going to mix it up with some other dude's helmet. You'd be surprised how difficult it can be to accurately identify human smithereens.

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:12:47 -0800

They keep going up till they reach the "float point," which is estimated to be somewhere between 120,000 and 130,000 feet.

By: mochapickle

mochapickle — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:15:44 -0800

Ack. When he does step out, there's just those three little strips of grippy tape on the front step keeping him from slipping.

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:16:51 -0800

I did not realize/know he jumped from around this far as a practice in July.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:19:55 -0800

Past Joe Kittinger's record now.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:20:23 -0800

My heart is climbing into my throat.

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:21:20 -0800

That story about the guy who slipped off the helicopter sling is just horrible.

By: Dr. Zira

Dr. Zira — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:21:23 -0800

That step is only the size of a skateboard?

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:22:37 -0800

wait what if the balloon doesn't stop?

By: Guy Smiley

Guy Smiley — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:23:05 -0800

Ack. When he does step out, there's just those three little strips of grippy tape on the front step keeping him from slipping. Should've gone with some of those bathtub flower stickers instead.

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:24:29 -0800

At some point, it does have to stop. It can't just escape gravity via floating.

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:25:40 -0800

Godspeed, Mr. Baumgartner.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:26:21 -0800

Ah, that's what he'll be doing once outside the capsule. The Internet says that brave American astronauts traditionally sing the following when plummeting towards Earth: "Oh, those Golden Grahams. Oh, those Golden Grahams. Crispy, crunchy, graham cereal, brand new breakfast treat..."

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:26:34 -0800

Soundspeed!

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:28:12 -0800

desjardins: What's pushing the balloon up is basic buoyancy. It will stop when the weight of the air displaced by the balloon will become equal to its own weight.

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:28:57 -0800

Team considering the options on dealing with the malfunction in the visor's heating system. Clearly, taking off the visor is not an option.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:29:38 -0800

The announcer's wikipedia article is interesting if kind of alarming (emphasis mine):

Hager found himself carving out a niche in the areas of transportation and weather. He reported on many major airline accidents, including TWA Flight 800 and Pan Am Flight 103. He also covered many of the major hurricanes that hit the United States during his 35 year tenure.[1] During his years at the DC bureau, Hager became one of the most visible reporters on television.[2] Although he retired from daily reporting on November 5, 2004,[2] Hager continued to file occasional reports for NBC News. He returned to the air to help cover the 2006 coal mine disaster in West Virginia.[3] Because of his expertise in aviation accidents, Hager came back again to NBC Nightly News to report on the August 27, 2006 crash of Comair Flight 5191 and the October 12, 2006 plane crash that killed Yankees pitcher Corey Lidle

By: Jehan

Jehan — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:31:00 -0800

The outside temp is now a relatively warm -23.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:31:46 -0800

Paul Ryan claiming in interview that when younger he "did a 140,000 foot freefall jump", though he can't remember exactly when and no-one apparently kept any press clippings. may not be true

By: ocherdraco

ocherdraco — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:33:21 -0800

"The highest anyone has ever gone... hauled aloft by a balloon."

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:33:28 -0800

Past the highest flight in a balloon record.

By: Guy Smiley

Guy Smiley — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:33:36 -0800

well, he's got the balloon altitude record now.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:33:42 -0800

Pfft, -8 F? It gets colder in Wisconsin in the winter.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:33:43 -0800

may or may not have been a single jump; may or may not have been vertical

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:34:44 -0800

Well, not just long lenses. It helps that the balloon is bigger than the Statue of Liberty...

By: Fig

Fig — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:38:13 -0800

Ahh, so close! Nerve-wracking! Good luck, Felix!

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:38:19 -0800

30 million cubic feet of helium!

By: exogenous

exogenous — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:39:02 -0800

Hager found himself carving out a niche in the areas of transportation and weather A little disappointing that a few minutes ago he suggested the temperature was warming because they were closer to the sun. Good thing the capsule isn't made of wax!

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:40:24 -0800

Is there any way Felix can inhale a tiny bit of the balloon helium, so he could do amusing high-pitched smurf voices as he falls to Earth?

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:41:24 -0800

My palms are literally sweating.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:41:40 -0800

Getting colder now, but I might still consider not zipping up my jacket in this weather.

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:42:18 -0800

Goosebump territory.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:42:43 -0800

getting pretty close here.

By: Fig

Fig — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:43:00 -0800

Maximum altitude! Eeep!

By: alby

alby — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:43:21 -0800

THE JUMP IS A GO.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:43:44 -0800

eeeek

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:44:37 -0800

Wow, that's a pretty shot of the balloon all inflated against the blue sky.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:44:50 -0800

Still going up slightly...

By: Guy Smiley

Guy Smiley — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:45:09 -0800

Will Jump. Good luck - and trust in the enormous planning.

By: triceryclops

triceryclops — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:45:16 -0800

That silver haired fellow in mission control, is that Kittinger?

By: robstercraw

robstercraw — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:45:22 -0800

Good luck, Felix!

By: tapeguy

tapeguy — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:45:28 -0800

It was more impressive when William Shatner did it in the '90s.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:45:43 -0800

yes, triceryclops

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:46:09 -0800

Let's hear the Mission Control chatter, please.

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:46:17 -0800

I'm nervous to let my kid watch the jump. But he definitely wants to. Butterflies in my stomach.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:46:19 -0800

In the 2015 Hollywood film of the jump, this is the point Celine Dion starts singing.

By: Jehan

Jehan — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:46:23 -0800

If he has a quick wank now, the low pressure in the cabin will make his sperm swell to the size of kittens. Sperm kittens!

By: chococat

chococat — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:47:07 -0800

Balloon looks like an enormous JiffyPop.

By: carter

carter — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:48:06 -0800

yikes

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:49:05 -0800

I'm nervous to let my kid watch the jump. I would think! I am so stressed by watching.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:49:09 -0800

Seems like he's got the heat back in the visor. Phew.

By: alby

alby — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:49:12 -0800

Sounds like the faceplate heating is working.

By: Fig

Fig — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:49:38 -0800

Anyone else freak out when he wasn't responding right away?

By: ocherdraco

ocherdraco — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:49:42 -0800

Why isn't he responding?

By: Dr. Zira

Dr. Zira — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:49:53 -0800

The checklist is simultaneously mundane and exhilarating.

By: ocherdraco

ocherdraco — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:50:03 -0800

This is a nailbiter.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:50:08 -0800

Man, he sounds so bored.

By: Balonious Assault

Balonious Assault — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:50:21 -0800

It may not have been what MetaTalk is for, but thank you carter.

By: alby

alby — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:50:45 -0800

Anyone else freak out when he wasn't responding right away? Yes. Yes I did.

By: Fig

Fig — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:51:29 -0800

Agreed! The metatalk post is why I'm watching too

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:51:42 -0800

Anyone else got Major Tom playing in their head?

By: carter

carter — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:51:49 -0800

Me too ... Crazy nailbiting stuff.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:52:00 -0800

holy shi-i-i-i-t

By: triceryclops

triceryclops — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:52:06 -0800

Alright the live feed just pooped the bed. Anybody else?

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:52:06 -0800

Same here. I totally missed the original FPP.

By: SomaSoda

SomaSoda — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:52:19 -0800

guys i am so high right now

By: jimmythefish

jimmythefish — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:52:38 -0800

I'm freaking out right now. I think he can do it, though.

By: Jehan

Jehan — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:52:48 -0800

At this rate, he's going to leap out at over 39,000m.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:53:00 -0800

Is the visor heater thing isn't working, wouldn't it just be easiest to quickly microwave a Hot Pocket and shove it in there? Bonus: something to nibble on the way down.

By: ocherdraco

ocherdraco — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:53:14 -0800

Not as high as Felix.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:53:50 -0800

My cat just let me know that it's his feeding time, just as Felix is preparing to jump. Worst. Timing. Ever. Felix.

By: alby

alby — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:54:04 -0800

So, what do we think Baumgartner's "One small step ..." words are going to be?

By: albrecht

albrecht — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:54:09 -0800

Did he just say "lock S-foils in attack position"?

By: troika

troika — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:54:18 -0800

Another watcher because of the carter's metatalk thread here! Pretty into the earth's blue glow.

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:54:24 -0800

'Godspeed' is a common 'good luck' phrase used by NASA and Mission Control (e.g. "Godspeed, John Glenn" || Godspeed, Atlantis").

By: Dr. Zira

Dr. Zira — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:54:25 -0800

Will his mic be on on the way down?

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:54:39 -0800

watch it on youtube, I can't get it at the main site

By: Fig

Fig — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:54:42 -0800

All these guys at mission control and Felix all sound so calm and relaxed. I'd be screaming and/or hyperventilating. Typing is difficult now, just watching!

By: Countess Elena

Countess Elena — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:55:01 -0800

GERONIMO

By: edgeways

edgeways — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:55:01 -0800

shiiiiit man

By: Jehan

Jehan — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:55:45 -0800

Geronimo!

By: chococat

chococat — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:55:47 -0800

Item 22: JUMP!

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:56:17 -0800

"We're getting serious now"

By: SomaSoda

SomaSoda — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:56:21 -0800

yeah, vicariously high, that is. Getting serious now Felix.

By: robstercraw

robstercraw — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:56:23 -0800

oh no! video went down!!

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:56:33 -0800

I just jumped off my couch in solidarity and hit my knee on the edge of the table and spilt my tea and it was all very dramatic.

By: Fig

Fig — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:56:46 -0800

OK, quick shot of his family at mission control, they do not look calm and relaxed.

By: lampshade

lampshade — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:57:02 -0800

"we're getting serious now" Heh....as if felix wasn't already!

By: Room 641-A

Room 641-A — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:57:21 -0800

I think the only reason I'm not totally freaking out is that I can't really comprehend what is about to happen. I'm just regular freaking out.

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:57:46 -0800

Depressurizing!

By: carter

carter — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:58:35 -0800

External pressure 0.003 bar.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:59:16 -0800

So as a now veteran jumper I feel I must warn Felix not to step in his spilt tea or his socks will get wet.

By: Mamapotomus

Mamapotomus — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:59:24 -0800

Oh jeez, I'm kinda nauseated. How is he not stroking out completely?

By: jimmythefish

jimmythefish — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:59:27 -0800

Here we go.

By: ocherdraco

ocherdraco — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:59:52 -0800

He is more than 24 miles up in the air.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:00:11 -0800

I may barf

By: lydhre

lydhre — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:00:27 -0800

The hissing of the depressurization is killing me. Aaaaaargh.

By: Jehan

Jehan — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:00:56 -0800

Over 39 km!

By: ocherdraco

ocherdraco — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:01:11 -0800

All of a sudden the map that desjardins linked to upthread has moved the jump location to the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of West Africa. It keeps flip flopping between there and New Mexico.

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:01:52 -0800

Felix sounds nervous about the door.

By: j_curiouser

j_curiouser — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:01:54 -0800

Good wishes and all the luck in the world to Felix, challenging what it is to be a human being.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:01:56 -0800

He's eager to get that door open

By: futz

futz — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:02:31 -0800

I feel terrible for his family

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:02:45 -0800

0.12 psi inside and outside the capsule.

By: carter

carter — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:02:52 -0800

Kittinger is doing a great job here.

By: tapeguy

tapeguy — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:03:09 -0800

"Ground control to Major Baum - drink a can of Red Bull and put your helmet on"

By: marimeko

marimeko — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:03:11 -0800

"bunny hop" ! good luck Felix!

By: Dr. Zira

Dr. Zira — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:03:24 -0800

Door open!

By: Fig

Fig — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:03:30 -0800

Door open!!

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:03:36 -0800

Over 7 million watching live on YouTube.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:03:37 -0800

Even now, conspiracy theorists are blogging that all this is being relayed from an abandoned warehouse in Nebraska.

By: changeling

changeling — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:03:45 -0800

I heard "bunny hop" off "a little skateboard-like platform." sounds perfectly reasonable

By: edgeways

edgeways — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:03:47 -0800

Anyone know how long it will take to get back to the ground?

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:03:53 -0800

Video...any video??

By: ocherdraco

ocherdraco — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:04:00 -0800

Huh, my feed doesn't show it yet.

By: j_curiouser

j_curiouser — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:04:19 -0800

common error for newbie map guys: getting the position in one coordinate system, not converting, and displaying it in another.

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:04:24 -0800

Here WE GO!!!!

By: chococat

chococat — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:04:39 -0800

release seat belt!

By: Jehan

Jehan — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:04:39 -0800

Less than 15 minutes they say.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:04:44 -0800

"There it is! There is a world out there!"

By: tapeguy

tapeguy — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:04:46 -0800

Anyone know how long it will take to get back to the ground? About ten minutes.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:04:53 -0800

"Item 31. Try not to look down and completely crap yourself in fear."

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:05:08 -0800

Ohhhhhh.......

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:05:09 -0800

NO FUCK YOU I AM NOT UPGRADING MY FLASH PLAYER OH MY GOD COME BACK

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:05:09 -0800

Don't look down.

By: Fig

Fig — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:05:10 -0800

His view does look beautiful, with the dark sky and bright horizon.

By: Room 641-A

Room 641-A — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:05:15 -0800

Dude is sitting. In. Space.

By: futz

futz — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:05:57 -0800

was a psych eval done on this guy?

By: cortex

cortex — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:06:30 -0800

Now he just needs to get a nice big flatscreen mounted out there, queue up something on Netflix Instant...

By: ocherdraco

ocherdraco — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:06:36 -0800

I wish I had Kittinger in my ear to walk me through the difficult tasks in my life step by step.

By: Fig

Fig — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:06:37 -0800

omg omg omg

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:06:54 -0800

the camera angle from just above his head is, um. i just. halp.

By: ocherdraco

ocherdraco — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:07:22 -0800

HOLY SHIT.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:08:11 -0800

wow he got tiny real fast

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:08:26 -0800

I DON'T LIKE THIS PART

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:08:29 -0800

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOA

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:08:34 -0800

ocherdraco: "HOLY SHIT." My wife and I just yelled that out in unison.

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:08:37 -0800

FUCK!

By: Jehan

Jehan — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:08:41 -0800

Away he goes!

By: troika

troika — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:08:47 -0800

Stable descent! Woo!

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:09:17 -0800

He's rolling.

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:09:19 -0800

outside online live feed

By: changeling

changeling — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:09:19 -0800

I didn't know we'd be listening to his breathing omg omg

By: Dr. Zira

Dr. Zira — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:09:27 -0800

I cannot believe we are watching a man fall through space !

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:09:35 -0800

Now stable.

By: carter

carter — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:10:06 -0800

omg omg omg

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:10:16 -0800

controlled descent!

By: Jehan

Jehan — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:10:17 -0800

Speed of sound!

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:10:42 -0800

Got tears in my eyes.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:11:17 -0800

My 3yo is standing in front of the tv screaming "He's falling!"

By: Dr. Zira

Dr. Zira — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:11:19 -0800

He's hit ludicrous speed!

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:11:32 -0800

What did he say?

By: alby

alby — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:11:32 -0800

GO GO GO YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD.

By: futz

futz — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:11:42 -0800

did he just say "pass out"?

By: edgeways

edgeways — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:11:43 -0800

Goddamn.. humans are a crazy animals I gotta say

By: ocherdraco

ocherdraco — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:12:05 -0800

Visor is fogging up.

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:12:06 -0800

"Visor is fogging up".

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:12:15 -0800

I like that over 7 million people are excitedly watching a blurry white dot with arms and legs.

By: alby

alby — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:12:15 -0800

Did he just say his visor was fogging up?

By: Lemurrhea

Lemurrhea — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:12:49 -0800

chute is active! And so he didn't get the record freefall.

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:12:50 -0800

Come on, man. Make it home!

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:12:52 -0800

AHH PARACHUTE my god i thought he exploded

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:12:56 -0800

Chute's out! No new freefall record

By: troika

troika — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:13:32 -0800

"Couldn't have done it any better myself!" Aww, Kittinger.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:14:19 -0800

i am sad that he didn't arrange to land on a dragon and fly off triumphantly

By: lampshade

lampshade — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:14:47 -0800

I wonder if he pulled the chute early so the old record could stand. he has the record for this highest jump, maybe it was a nod to history

By: alby

alby — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:15:02 -0800

He can't see. They're having to direct him down.

By: chococat

chococat — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:15:40 -0800

He should land perfectly on one foot on top of a Red Bull can.

By: Fig

Fig — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:16:29 -0800

Yeah!! Perfect!!

By: Lemurrhea

Lemurrhea — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:16:58 -0800

The guys on radio are having a hard time describing the wind.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:17:10 -0800

shit ... a standing landing

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:17:20 -0800

HOLY SHIT! Welcome home!

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:17:33 -0800

Wow. incredible.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:17:37 -0800

I hate that fucking announcer so fucking much for fucking talking over Felix and Kittinger. I HATE HIM.

By: ocherdraco

ocherdraco — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:17:38 -0800

Well, that was fun!

By: Dr. Zira

Dr. Zira — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:17:38 -0800

His balls are as big as the earth he just landed on.

By: Mamapotomus

Mamapotomus — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:17:46 -0800

Oh my goodness.

By: chococat

chococat — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:17:51 -0800

wow good landing

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:18:11 -0800

I really kind of hate that the first person who ran up to him wasn't there to congratulate him or hug him or hand him a taco, but to shove a camera in his face and click away.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:18:13 -0800

Heh. The first guy at the scene is a photographer. Awesome landing.

By: j_curiouser

j_curiouser — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:18:51 -0800

i like the internet

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:18:52 -0800

omg - what a crazy bastard, I am so relieved - this is astounding

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:19:17 -0800

I mean obvsly I get that this is an expensive publicity stunt but COME THE FUCK ON HUG THE SPACEMAN.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:19:36 -0800

So the first thing that happened to Felix, after landing from a jump of nearly 130,000 feet, is that someone instagrammed him.

By: SomaSoda

SomaSoda — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:19:48 -0800

poor little shuttle still hanging up in the air is totally gonna miss the afterparty

By: carter

carter — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:20:42 -0800

Welcome back Felix!

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:20:56 -0800

Also the livestream viewing numbers dropped by a million once he landed, which makes me wonder how many people were just watching to see if he died. wow i hate people more than usual today i guess

By: cortex

cortex — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:20:57 -0800

I mean obvsly I get that this is an expensive publicity stunt but COME THE FUCK ON HUG THE SPACEMAN. Right, he's gonna hug the guy wearing the six thousand dollar pressure suit. COME ON.

By: lampshade

lampshade — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:21:07 -0800

very cool live science feed thread....2 in a month...first Curiosity and now this.

By: Infinite Jest

Infinite Jest — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:21:21 -0800

Ms Jest thought the first person to reach him should have been a doctor. I think it should have been someone with a cold beer. (After hugs, obviously).

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:21:46 -0800

Awesome. Kid fell asleep as soon as the parachute opened. Way past his bedtime. :) Yay Felix!

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:23:15 -0800

I wonder if the outside of his suit was (dangerously) cold to the touch at first?

By: naoko

naoko — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:23:30 -0800

Also the livestream viewing numbers dropped by a million once he landed, which makes me wonder how many people were just watching to see if he died. Maybe they are just trying to get away from this horrible song.

By: Infinite Jest

Infinite Jest — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:23:33 -0800

Right, he's gonna hug the guy wearing the six thousand dollar pressure suit. COME ON. Hug him gently or do one of those French style air kisses at his cheeks at least. Dude just jumped from space. FROM SPACE.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:24:01 -0800

SPACEMAN HIGH FIVES AT LEAST

By: ob1quixote

ob1quixote — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:24:23 -0800

ericb: Got tears in my eyes.

Thank God I wasn't the only one. I wasn't prepared for how emotional watching him step off the capsule was going to make me. I actually gasped.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:24:44 -0800

That was amazing. Absolutely beautiful.

By: futz

futz — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:24:47 -0800

That was absolutely insane. Insane. Also, YAY SCIENCE!!!!

By: naoko

naoko — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:25:28 -0800

Oh thank god, the song is gone. Anyway, yeah, my cold cynical little heart melted from "publicity stunt blergh" to "this is awesome" pretty much as soon as I turned the livestream on.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:25:51 -0800

he's gonna hug the guy wearing the six thousand dollar pressure suit i think it's prolly strong enough to stand up to hugs if it just broke the sound barrier. unless photog dude was wearing a suit made of live porcupines.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:26:33 -0800

Meanwhile on YouTube, hordes of 27 year old men in their parents basements smugly type "FAKE!" in the comments section...

By: mysticreferee

mysticreferee — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:27:37 -0800

It breaks my heart when people don't get Arrested Development references. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81Nl7VYFEaI COME ON!

By: khaibit

khaibit — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:27:51 -0800

Man, I closed the tab to escape that horrid song, and now it's not responding.

By: j_curiouser

j_curiouser — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:29:55 -0800

so, uh, back to 'The Battle of Bedford Falls' for me...I think laundry, dishes, and homework help.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:29:57 -0800

I love that this happened at the same time as Voyager is leaving the solar system. We live in exciting times.

By: A Bad Catholic

A Bad Catholic — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:31:22 -0800

Did anyone catch what he said right before the jump? My feed was freaking out.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:32:51 -0800

My wifi cut out 20 seconds after he landed, which, thank god, because if it had done that 20 seconds before, I would have thrown my monitor out the window.

By: Guy Smiley

Guy Smiley — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:33:39 -0800

Geronimooooooooo

By: Abbril

Abbril — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:34:55 -0800

Red Bull giveth wings. Red Bull taketh away.

By: albrecht

albrecht — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:36:11 -0800

Out of curiosity (it's for a friend). Are there any medical people here who can say what (if anything) would happen if Felix got an erection at 120,000 feet, when about to jump? #UnwantedWood Excellent question. It's a well-documented fact that the state of a male parachutist's penis can disrupt airflow around his body and generate a small amount of additional torque (the so-called "Laminar Stiffy" Effect). The best high altitude skydivers and BASE jumpers make use of this effect to control their rotational dynamics in free fall and even recover from flat spins. For this reason, since WWII, all Air Force pilots and Army paratroopers have been trained in a technique called RABODEP (RApid BOner DEployment), where they learn in flight school to fine-tune the turgidity of their members with strategic precision by calling to mind various erotic or non-erotic images. To assist with this adjustment, many servicemen adopted the practice of taping two photos on the insides of their visors, one a source of a surefire instant hard-on (Marilyn Monroe being a popular choice) and the other a no-fail boner killer (usually their base commander or a famous athlete, e.g., NFL quarterback Bart Starr). During the Cold War, the particular identities of the people in the chubby-generating photos was, for obvious reasons, a closely guarded military secret in both the US and USSR, the concern being that the enemy could, in the event of airborne conflict, drop leaflets of the sexy images or flood the TV airwaves with them, manipulating their counterparts into untimely and potentially deadly erections. Due to a FOIA request for declassified documents, Chuck Yeager's tent-popping photo was later revealed to be of a young Sophia Loren, while Yuri Gagarin's boner source was rumored to be a member of the Bolshoi Ballet, although this was never confirmed.

By: Tomorrowful

Tomorrowful — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:43:31 -0800

Upon careful consideration, I have decided that if 4Loko sponsorship is what it takes to get us back to the moon, I'm ok with it.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:45:28 -0800

At pretty much the same time: Voyager 1 leaves the Solar System, there's a robot on Mars laser blasting the surface to analyze it, and a man falls from space and lands safe and well on Earth. We do frequently, often, fuck up big-time as a species. But sometimes, just occasionally, we fucking rock.

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:49:29 -0800

Metafilter: they learn in flight school to fine-tune the turgidity of their members with strategic precision by calling to mind various erotic or non-erotic images.

By: KathrynT

KathrynT — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 12:00:42 -0800

OK, I missed it due to having to feed my children and figure out why one of them was screaming. Is there video of the whole thing I can watch now?

By: alby

alby — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 12:14:26 -0800

Did anyone capture any of the data that was streaming on the YouTube page? Altitude, horizontal and vertical track speed, internal and external pressure and temperature etc. I'm a teacher and I'd love to get my hands on that data.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 12:15:28 -0800

At pretty much the same time: Voyager 1 leaves the Solar System, there's a robot on Mars laser blasting the surface to analyze it, and a man falls from space and lands safe and well on Earth. And to think this is all happening a mere 9,000 years after the creation of the world.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 12:52:42 -0800

In other news: This Guy Somehow Survived a Free Fall from a 4,000 Foot Cliff

By: futz

futz — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 12:54:18 -0800

I am still marveling at the technology of his space suit. Amazing.

By: reynir

reynir — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 12:55:17 -0800

Still a little disappointed that all the people meeting him on the ground weren't wearing ape masks.

By: Balonious Assault

Balonious Assault — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 13:06:55 -0800

In case anyone missed it, it appears to be showing "live" on the Discovery Channel now. Still ascending. I realize it was Red Bull and not NASA, but for me there was still a very strange disconnect seeing live pictures from space but hearing a totally amateur hour mission control broadcast.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 13:32:19 -0800

Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner has completed a 24-mile freefall, reaching a speed of 706mph during his four minute, 19 second fall. (video). More details on the jump at Red Bull Stratos; previously. Baumgartner broke the record set in 1960 by Joe Kittinger (previously 1, 2); Kittinger was in mission control for the jump, which comes on the 65th anniversary of Chuck Yeagar breaking the sound barrier.

By: fullerine

fullerine — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 15:14:23 -0800

BBC says sound barrier was broken

By: Room 641-A

Room 641-A — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 16:08:14 -0800

Felix Baumgartner's record-setting jump, reenacted with LEGOs.

By: Lyn Never

Lyn Never — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 16:42:53 -0800

This is the most stressful weekend of the year, when MCAS Miramar puts on their 3-day air show 6 miles south of my house. I have dogs, and they are stupid and afraid of Scary Sky Noise; we ended up cancelling a night at the Chateau Marmont to be home so they wouldn't eat all the walls and break out the windows. But we are Space Nerds, too, and it was only about 30 minutes before the jump that I loaded the stream up on the big monitor and went and got my husband and said, "hey, you wanna see this nut free-fall from space?" And we sat and watched it and clutched each others' knees when Baumgartner wasn't responding appropriately to Kittinger (and he really, really wasn't - we just spent the weekend re-re-re-re-watching From the Earth to the Moon; at least train to say "roger" occasionally, for everyone's mental health), and we gasped when he did his "better get this over with before I have time to think about it" bunny hop off the platform. We sighed in relief when that terrifying spiral turned into a controlled free-fall (echoing the face of his mother, bless her sainted tormented heart), and we writhed in agony when Red Bull TM Mission Control couldn't accurately tell him the difference between the wind coming off the ridge and the wind blowing toward the ridge (after 15 seconds of my screaming that he doesn't know where the fuck East is, give the man some landmarks). We started breathing again when he hit that amazing running landing on the ground. I've not yet warmed to privatized space exploration. I'd prefer to think that the fucking amazing pilots who have spent all weekend rattling my windows and scaring the poop literally out of my dogs and setting off our car alarms will be among the few in my lifetime who might again set foot on the moon or Mars rather than Dude McAdrenaline-Junkie bringing you Return to Luna General Mills Sponsored By Trojan or First Steps on Wal-Mars. But I can't deny that seeing someone - anyone - slipping the surly bonds of Earth and returning safely to the ground doesn't give me some warm damn feelings. I hope someone invents some kind of completely new sex to bestow on Felix tonight after the press conferences and the inevitable dinner with the CEO of Red Bull.

By: panboi

panboi — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:13:22 -0800

I'm glad it was a successful drop. I had visions of a tragic impact in the deserts of Roswell - and the military covering it up by releasing a statement that in fact an alien spacecraft had crashed.

By: bquarters

bquarters — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:44:24 -0800

Ok, I thought it was a crazy idea BEFORE I came in here and read that his eyes could explode like something out of a Stephen King novel. If I have nightmares about this tonight I am blaming you, Metafilter!

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:25:57 -0800

Google Actually Considered Sending Felix Baumgartner To Space With Google Glass

By: carter

carter — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 19:52:38 -0800

Footage of the jump shot from a cam on Baumgartener's chestpack is here.

By: gingerest

gingerest — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:03:53 -0800

I hope someone invents some kind of completely new sex to bestow on Felix tonight I am fairly certain that nothing on the surface of the planet could give him a bigger thrill than that jump.

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 21:59:21 -0800

Felix Baumgartner's Record-Breaking Free Fall - By The Numbers So, the man fell to earth. Does it matter?

By: lollusc

lollusc — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 02:08:20 -0800

I didn't watch the video (yet), but I scrolled through the comments above that people wrote while they watched it live and it was an amazing collaborative description. I feel like I don't even need to watch the images now after all.

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:53:52 -0800

As others have spotted, great music to play while watching Felix fall gently to Earth.

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 07:43:30 -0800

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 07:57:56 -0800

On-suit camera view Not for the easily-motion sick!

By: desjardins

desjardins — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:23:46 -0800

Has anyone seen a longer video from the on-suit camera?

By: homunculus

homunculus — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:34:53 -0800

Felix Baumgartner skydive: the key questions answered

By: Wordshore

Wordshore — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:49:39 -0800

The bit you never saw; in-capsule footage of what happened shortly after Felix jumped. (may be related to this)

By: homunculus

homunculus — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:11:42 -0800

Sail!

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 18:39:09 -0800

Really nice synopsis (with good video, and an interview with their science editor) tonight on PBS/Newshour.

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:50:11 -0800

That's pretty much my suicide plan, sans parachute. Look for me in 2050 or so.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 07:37:38 -0800

Raw headcam footage from the jump

By: eye of newt

eye of newt — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 08:51:32 -0800

Interestingly, the record for the longest freefall, set by Eugene Andreev of the USSR in 1962 (breaking Kittenger's record set two years earlier), still holds.

By: ob1quixote

ob1quixote — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 09:44:13 -0800

They set free-fall a record on Conan as well!

By: ob1quixote

ob1quixote — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 09:53:37 -0800

Christ on a crutch… What good is an edit window if you don't see you somehow bungled the word order until it's too late? They "set a free-fall record" obviously. I've even had breakfast and two cups of coffee. I'm going back to bed…

By: homunculus

homunculus — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:32:54 -0800

unimpressed rover

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:08:10 -0800

Infographic: How Close Did Felix Baumgartner Get To The Edge Of Space?

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:39:31 -0800

The Men Who Fall From Space

Yakov Solodovnik jumped from more than 10,000 meters (around six miles) in September 1939. World War II had just begun. Over the next six years fighter aircraft would routinely fly in the stratosphere — that is, at an altitude greater than 10,000 meters — forcing pilots sometimes to abandon their planes at heights from which no one had jumped before. My great-uncle's jump seems to have been prepared hastily: on-the-ground testing had only begun in August.

By: flex

flex — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 13:26:07 -0800

RedBull's Stratos Stunt:

It was exciting and death-defying, but at the end of the day it was a just an elaborate publicity stunt that will likely see RedBull sales skyrocket this month. But I'd argue that the event wasn't entirely a success from a publicity standpoint. RedBull, who sponsored the jump, wasted an incredible opportunity. It had an eight million person audience captivated, but did nothing to teach that audience about the context behind Baumgartner's jump. Joe Kittinger's 1960 jump was amazing, the heritage behind these types of tests is fascinating, but without any context the audience just saw a daredevil break a record for record-breaking's sake. I realize I sound like an irritated historian, but I also have a background (albeit a brief one) in publicity. Not taking advantage of an opportunity to teach eight million people a few awesome things about science is a terrible waste, from an historian's standpoint and a public relation's standpoint...

By: eye of newt

eye of newt — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 02:12:28 -0800

"at the end of the day it was a just an elaborate publicity stunt" I couldn't disagree more. So much of the press has gone for this jaded 'it's all just a commercial for Red Bull' angle, sometimes barely mentioning the jump at all. This is a record that has been held for 50 years. Many people have tried and failed to break it in the intervening years. The original jump was an Air Force experiment, and, despite what this article says, this one was too. Times have changed and this time the Air Force didn't want to be officially involved, because of the possibility of a grisly end. Nevertheless a lot of valuable data was collected and offered to them. (I easily found lots of quotes from various Air Force officials excited about getting their hands on this data). And most of the big historical record-breaking events such as Lindburgh's flight across the Atlantic were sponsored. His (Lindburgh's) event certainly wasn't scientific, but it provided the world the chance to share in the excitement and provided historical milestones of the progress that mankind was making. Maybe since all the major records such as crossing the Atlantic/Pacific by various means have already been broken, that there few such milestones left (at least on Earth), that these bored (and boring) reporters have forgotten how to get excited about these historical occasions.

By: bardophile

bardophile — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 02:49:01 -0800

"at the end of the day it was a just an elaborate publicity stunt" I couldn't disagree more. So much of the press has gone for this jaded 'it's all just a commercial for Red Bull' angle, sometimes barely mentioning the jump at all. While this may be true of the press in general (I haven't read the press reports), the writer's point is quite specifically that Red Bull didn't take advantage of the opportunity to raise general awareness of the science and history behind this new landmark, and the possible future implications of it. Rather than saying that there isn't any significance beyond publicity, she is annoyed that Red Bull treated it as if it had no larger significance or context.

By: eye of newt

eye of newt — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 10:04:57 -0800

the writer's point is quite specifically that Red Bull didn't take advantage of the opportunity to raise general awareness of the science and history behind this new landmark In the comments after the article, they mentioned that the Red Bull commentators did, in fact, mention most of the points that she thought they should have mentioned. And why pick on the sponsor? There are quite a few other sources of information. My interest started years ago with a cover article in Popular Science that talked about the science in depth. And apparently there are some science specials coming up from National Geographic and others, which I look forward to.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 09:52:03 -0800

Felix Baumgartner Sounds Off on NASA, Sir Richard Branson

By: desjardins

desjardins — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 11:21:53 -0800

Jeez, I wish he hadn't opened up his mouth.