Red Bull Stratos – watch the daredevil freefall from the edge of space. Live

Published on: October 14, 2012 at 6:40 PM

Red Bull Stratos is the name of the project which involves Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner and his attempt to break the sound barrier on his descent from approximately 23 miles (37 km) into the stratosphere over Roswell, New Mexico.

As I’m writing this article, Baumgartner is on board the capsule attached to a helium balloon in the ascent stage.

Along with being the first man to reach supersonic speed without external power, the 43-year-old Austrian skydiver will also attempt to break three other world records—the highest altitude jump, the longest time in free fall and the highest manned balloon flight ever.

The entire free fall ride is expected to last about 10 minutes.

At transonic and supersonic speeds “his blood could boil. His lungs could overinflate. The vessels in his brain could burst. His eyes could hemorrhage. And, yes, he could break his neck while jumping from a mind-boggling altitude of 23 miles,” the Associated Press reported.

The proposed launch on Oct. 9 was delayed then postponed due to high winds.

If you click on this link, you’ll be redirected to the live coverage of the event on Youtube, watched by 5.4M visitors.

Here’s the moment when he jumped from the capsule. In a .gif file.

 

Share This Article
Follow:
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
4 Comments