Red Bull Stratos, a mission to the edge of space, will attempt to transcend human limits that have existed for 50 years. Supported by a team of experts Felix Baumgartner plans to ascend to 120,000 feet in a stratospheric balloon and make a freefall jump rushing toward earth at supersonic speeds before parachuting to the ground. His attempt to dare atmospheric limits holds the potential to provide valuable medical and scientific research data for future pioneers.
This is science driven by adventure to the limits of the human experience.
On the 15th March 2012 Baumgartner leapt from a balloon capsule 71,500ft (22km) above New Mexico. He landing safely about eight minutes later. That skydive was used to test all the equipment before the dive from 120,000ft, hopefully later this year.
I for one wish Felix Baumgartner and the rest of the Red Bull Stratos team good luck.
Record to day
The current record holder for the highest skydive is US Air Force Colonel Joe Kittinger way back in 1960. His jump was 102,800ft.
Baumgartner’s jump is only beaten by two other men; Joe Kittinger and the Russian Eugene Andreev.
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Stratospheric NASA FUBARs said “die” to crews. NASA safety retrofits figuratively replaced a one-engine plane with a two-engine plane that needed both engines to fly. Going off-planet is now private enterprise in addition to bureaucrats’ deformed decisions.
Ejecting crew is facile. We must know how to safely return them through a 30 mile drop. Portable resources (oxygen, warmth) do not allow a leisurely descent. Faster than a speeding bullet… in a business suit.