Up 2.5 Hours; Down 13:30 (3:30 minutes freefall and 10:00 minutes controlled parachute descent). Excerpts of the mission Sunday when Fearless Felix Baumgartner jumped from the platform of a space capsule that had reached an altitude of 128,100 feet above the Earth. The entire mission was broadcast on LIVE STREAM with over 8 million people watching on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/redbull and http://www.redbullstratos.com
Red Bull Stratos is a mission to the edge of space that will try to surpass human limits that have existed for more than 50 years. Supported by a team of experts, Felix Baumgartner will undertake a stratospheric balloon flight to more than 120,000 feet / 36,576 meters and make a record-breaking freefall jump in the attempt to become the first man to break the speed of sound in freefall (an estimated 690 miles / 1,110 kilometers per hour), while delivering valuable data for medical and scientific advancement.
CGI Graphic simulation of Supersonic Freefall.
Felix Baumgartner, 43, took off at 9:30 a.m. MDT (11:30 a.m. EDT/1530 GMT). A giant 30 million-cubic-foot thin plastic helium balloon lifted a space capsule/jumping platform containing the skydiver. Ascent was expected to last about 2.5 to three hours, while the descent was expected to last about 15-20 minutes — with freefall lasting about 5 minutes.
Over 8 million people watched the event live on YouTube — a record for most concurrent views on YouTube.
Red Bull Stratos — First Attempt of Parachutist to Break the Sound Barrier
Felix Baumgartner is scheduled to attempt to go supersonic when he jumps from a record altitude of 23 miles (37 km or 120,000 feet) over New Mexico. Following a weather forecast for bad contitions on October 5, 2012 the jump attempt was rescheduled for October 9 2012. The drop zone or landing zone is in Roswell, New Mexico.
Two previous test jumps were conducted on March 15, 2012 (71,581 feet/Free Fall timed at 00:03:43 with maximum speed of 360 mph) and July 25, 2012 (96,640 feet/Free Fall timed at 00:03:48 with maximum speed of 536 mph).
Felix Baumgartner (born April 20, 1969) is an Austrian skydiver and a BASE jumper. “BASE” is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antennas, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs). Most BASE jumps are made from less than 600m (2,000 feet).
Baumgartner is renowned for the particularly dangerous nature of the stunts he has performed during his career. In 1999 Baumgartner claimed the world record for the highest parachute jump from a building when he jumped from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Baumgartner set the world record for the lowest BASE jump ever (95 feet), from a hand of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. The height to the head of the statue is 130 feet. The statue stands on top of the Corcovoado mountain at 2,300 feet.
The record to be beaten is a 102,800-foot jump that lasted 00:04:36 before opening his parachute.
See also …
redbullstratos.com
Baumgartner served in the Austrian military where he practiced parachute jumping, including training missions landing on small target zones.